Pandora's Redemption
by cantkeepmymusictomyself
Summary: The party is split. The evils are on a rampage throughout history, and Pandora is making a deal with the devil. How will it end? Part Three of Pandora's Prison
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 1

What Sean Found

Sean awoke with a start. He sat up and wiped his brow. His hand came away, slick with sweat.

"That was a hell of a dream," he said out loud. He got up and went to the mirror in his bathroom. Looking into it at himself, he saw the circles under his eyes. The eyes themselves were bloodshot. He had cried again. He sighed and splashed some water on his face.

The dreams weren't getting better. He knew that what he had been dreaming had really happened. His subconscious imagination was intensifying many things, and his own guilt was not least among them.

After dematerializing in front of Martha at the two thousand and eight Drum Corps International World Championships, he had arrived back home. It was where he wanted to go. He couldn't bring himself to face what he knew he had to do. Or at least try to do. But he didn't even know where to start.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at his watch. It was 3:33 in the morning. The dreams had to stop. He wasn't getting any sleep, and it was showing up in his work. He had gone back to work for the past few days, but more and more of his coworkers were noticing that he was slipping. Not just in his performance, but in all of his dealings with everyone. He couldn't hold a conversation for more than a couple of minutes, and he kept excusing himself from all of the awkward situations he was finding himself in, which were many.

He knew that the only way to really stop the dreams was to move forward in the mission he had set for himself upon leaving the Doctor and Martha.

He went to the window and looked up into the sky, wondering where they might be, and if they had made any progress on stopping the homunculi, or finding the Hope that was supposedly out there. He sighed and looked at the vortex manipulator that was still on his bedside table.

"I don't even know where to go!" he shouted to nobody.

This wasn't entirely true. He had thought he knew where to go when he arrived at home. His encounter with the Master, the man that he had thought was named Thompson, had made that clear to him.

He looked from the sky to the shell of a house that belonged to his next-door neighbor, who was, apparently, an alien. Nothing strange had been seen from it since the glow the night he had opened the box.

He rubbed his eyes. The damn box. The homunculi had to go back into it. He didn't know how they would manage it. Looking at the house, he knew that he had to start somewhere, and maybe he would find some clues in that house. The basement would be a fine place to begin looking.

"Well, I won't be getting back to sleep tonight," he muttered. He stepped away from the window and sniffed himself. "I should shower," he said. His hygiene had been slipping too.  
He spent probably more time than was necessary in the shower, letting the hot water run over his body. He lathered up, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies of his body clean. When he finally stepped out, he toweled off and put on a comfortable tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. There was no sense being uncomfortable if he was going to be going through his neighbor's things. If there was a trap of some sort, he wanted to be able to move with plenty of ease.

He grabbed a flashlight and put the vortex manipulator on his wrist for good measure. He programmed the coordinates for his bedroom if he needed to make a quick getaway.

He stole outside silently and crept over to the nearby wreck of a house. It appeared to be just as he had left it when he climbed out of the hole in the basement. "It's weird that it hasn't been blocked off at all," he thought. The hair of the back of his neck was standing up, and he was glad he had brought the vortex manipulator with him. It definitely had all the makings of a trap. He clambered down the pile of rubble carefully, not wanting to sprain his ankle again. He didn't have Martha here to fix a splint for him.  
When he reached the basement floor, he turned on the flashlight and looked carefully around. Nothing seemed different.

He stepped gingerly towards the table that the box had been placed on. It was bare except for a couple scraps of paper. He leafed through them and didn't see anything of note. Still, he pocketed them. He never knew if something innocuous could mean something of great importance. He would show the Doctor all of his findings later, if he ever saw him again.

He walked around the edge of the basement, scanning each shelf. There were many fantastic looking things, but he knew he couldn't take all of them with him. He settled instead for taking pictures of the whole room, and of each individual item. Something would have to strike a chord with his Time Lord friend.

He found the door that led from the basement up to the ground level behind a bulletin board that he had to take off the wall. He took a picture of the post-it notes and papers that were tacked to it before opening the door.

He held his breath, expecting some sort of alarm to go off, but he was safe. He let out the breath gratefully.

He crept up the stairs slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. He reached the upper landing where there was another door. It was unlocked, so he stepped through it. A second later, there was a flash of gray on the floor streaking toward him. Without warning, it leaped up and planted its front legs on his chest, as if trying to knock Sean back down the stairs. He was fortunate that the creature was light. The shock alone nearly sent him teetering over the edge.

As it was, the cat (which he realized it must be), was clawing the front of his shirt, trying to grip enough so it could climb up to attack his face. The claws were doing a good deal of damage to his chest through the shirt.

He spun around quickly, trying to dislodge the cat. Its back legs swung out behind it, and its body smacked into the door frame. This jarred it enough so that it yowled and let go with its claws, and it hit the stairs hard. It lay there, still.

All this happened in a matter of about three seconds. Sean was breathing heavily, trying to come to grips with what had just happened.

He crept down to where the cat laid a few stairs below, and put his hand on it. It was still breathing, so it must have just been knocked out.

Sean smiled. He liked animals as a rule, and cats were no exception. He hadn't wanted to hurt it at all. It was good that it was going to be okay.

He went back up the stairs, still breathing a little hard, and found himself in what seemed to be the kitchen. He shone the light around, and saw through a doorway the hole that he had descended into to get to the basement. He made a mental note to skirt around that hole when he went through there.

There was nothing of note in the kitchen, so he moved on into the living room, giving the hole a wide berth. Now that he wasn't down there, it was black down there and went into the pits of hell if he hadn't known any better. He crept around the living room, and found himself looking up another staircase.

He frowned. There should be another room on the lower floor of the house. The outside structure implied that there was at least an office or something near the front of the house. He thought about it, still shining the light around the room, and found what he was looking for when his eyes moved away from a certain spot on the wall of their own accord.

Unfortunately, this wall was right above the pit, leaving just a few inches of floor right next to it.

"Damn," said Sean under his breath. He focused the light on the stretch of wall, and found that if he trained his eyes just to the left of the center of the beam, he could make out a door in his peripherals.

He was sure that he needed to get into that room if the Master was going to work that hard to keep people from knowing it was there. He thought for a moment, and then remembered a ladder he had seen in the basement. It made a lot more sense than trying edge out onto that tiny ledge of floor and wind up in the basement anyway.

He rushed down to the basement, taking care to step over the prone cat on his way down the stairs, and set the ladder up where he remembered the door being.

He climbed up carefully, and reached to where the knob would be. His hand closed around it, and he tried to turn it.

"Damn," he said again as it clicked back and forth. All at once, however, the weight of himself and the ladder against the wall/ door became too much for it, and it burst in.

Sean cried out in surprise despite himself, and leaped up the last few rungs into the room. The ladder, of course, stopped when it hit the room's floor.

He held his breath. That had created more noise than he had yet all night. He waited a few minutes to make sure that nobody was coming down to see what all of the racket was. When nobody did, including pets, he let his breath out. He was indeed alone in the house.

He looked around, still just using the flashlight. He frowned, then turned it off, and turned the light on in the room. If someone was looking at the house, seeing a flashlight in the window would look a lot more suspicious then seeing a main light on in the room. As he looked, he smiled. There wasn't a window to see it through anyway, except through the living room.

He pulled the ladder up into the room, to make sure that he could still get out when he needed to, and closed the door as best he could. Now there wouldn't be any way for someone to see the light on, and he could have a proper look around.

He looked at the door. The lock on it was clearly broken, which made him wonder why it was so made as flimsy as it was that it had broken under just a little bit of pressure. He supposed it didn't matter that much.

He turned and observed the room he was now in. There were no other doors leading out from it. It was a very plain room, in fact. There was a desk with a chair at it, and it had a pencil and a writing pad.

Sean was flummoxed. Why go through the trouble of hiding the room if it only had this inside it? He flipped through the writing pad, but there was nothing in it. He was struck by a thought, and pulled out the sheets of paper he had pocketed from the basement.

Grinning, he realized that the papers had come from this writing pad. He grabbed the pencil and pad for good measure and turned off the light. He was about to open the door when he noticed something else in the corner of the room.

Something was glowing faintly. He hadn't noticed it when the light was on, it was too dim. Now that it was dark in the room, the glow was pulsing a slow rhythm, almost like a heart beating. He turned the light back on, still gazing at the spot.

Yes! He could still just make it out. The glow was coming from the wall itself. He went to it and pressed against it carefully. A shock went through his system, and he fell to the floor.

Shaking his head to clear it, he sat up. The shock had only startled him, not enough to knock him out.

He got up gingerly, rubbing his hip where it had hit the floor. His vision cleared quickly, and now when he looked around the room, there was a lot more than just a desk and chair. Now there were gadgets and gizmos to rival that of the Doctor's TARDIS. He gazed around in awe. One button had dropped the illusion. He supposed it was a hologram of some sort.

He took out the pad of paper he had pocketed to see if any change had come over it. There was none.

The desk and chair were still in the same position, but now there was some kind of computer monitor. It was blank at the moment, but when he stepped in front of it, the screen came on, showing a picture of the Doctor.

"What?" Sean breathed. He looked around for a keyboard or mouse, but he couldn't see anything. He gazed at the computer screen, his brow furrowed. Surely not...

He touched the picture of the Doctor. Instantly, the picture went away and revealed a basic desktop. His eyes widened.

"No," he said. "No, it can't be!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 2

Smith and Jones Again

"And you are absolutely sure?" asked the Doctor. "Are you absolutely, positively, one hundred and twenty per cent sure?"

Sean nodded. "Definitely," he said. "I would recognize that horrific desktop anywhere. The Master was using the Windows Vista operating system."

The Doctor sat back. "You know what this means, don't you?" he said to Martha, who was still looking at the viewscreen with Sean at the other end.

Martha raised an eyebrow at him. "He's not up to date with current technological trends?" she guessed.

Sean laughed. "We know the Master is insane, but he at least would use the latest operating system if it suits his needs. He wouldn't use Vista if he wasn't up to date, he would still be using Windows XP. He's smart enough to not use Vista."

The Doctor nodded. "There must be something in Windows Vista that has eluded everyone's attention, but the Master somehow found, and was able to exploit."

Martha was still incredulous. "Or maybe he just updated it to Vista and hasn't bothered to move to Windows 7," she said. "Maybe he's just too busy trying to take over the universe and becoming immortal to worry about the latest operating system."

The Doctor waved her off. "I can use the TARDIS to scan through the code for Windows Vista to see if she can pick up something interesting."

"Don't hold your breath, Doctor," said Sean. "The only interesting thing about the system, as far as I know, is that they ever released it in the first place. But you could discover something."

"Did you get anything else from the Thompson's house?" asked Martha.

Sean shrugged. "Some scraps of paper, and pictures of everything they have in the basement."

Martha nodded. "If you get a chance, see if you can find anything on that computer," she said. "If the Doctor finds something in the code of the operating system, you may be able to connect it with something that the Master is doing."

"Okay," said Sean. "Hey Doctor," he said, turning to the Time Lord. "I was wondering, how was the Master able to separate the sins from himself in the first place? I mean, would it be possible for a human to do that and become pure?"

"Don't even think about it," snapped the Doctor. "If you were to remove those aspects of yourself, you would cease to be yourself! You would cease to be human!"

Sean shook his head. "I'm not asking for my sake," he said. "I'm just trying to find out, what if another human, an evil human, discovers how to do it?"

"Like I said," said the Doctor through his teeth. "They would cease to be human. Humans are fallible, humans sin, and humans die. That's the way it works."

Martha spoke up. "But what if someone did?" she asked. "We would have to find somebody else to stop, right? Not to mention stopping seven more homunculi?"

The Doctor nodded. "That's right," he said with a sigh. He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know how he separated the sins from himself, but I can tell you this for sure." He looked at Martha and Sean each in turn, and held their gazes. "He is not immune to those desires any more than you or me. Time Lords are fallible, Time Lords sin, and Time Lords do, in fact, die." He sat back and wiped his nose. "It takes us a few tries, but we get it right in the end."

Martha smiled. "Not you, though," she said. "You'll keep on going long after we're all gone."

The Doctor distinctly did not meet Martha's eyes at this. "I don't like to think about it," he said after a long pause.

Martha pursed her lips and laid a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. He forced a smile and squeezed her hand. Sean still didn't really know this mad man in his box, but he knew enough to know that he was very old and had seen the end of many friends, either through misadventure or just plain old age.

"The Master," said the Doctor, "whether he wants to admit it or not, is still plagued by those sins he claims to have rid himself of. When he anthropomorphized them, that is, gave them form, he did not completely get rid of those base emotions that are a part of his own person. He is still a Time Lord, and he can still die. Did either of you notice one of those deadly sins still very much at work in my old friend?"

Sean thought for a moment. It was obvious, in the end, what such a person would still have. "Pride," he said out loud. "He was so proud of his success in severing the ties with the sins."

The Doctor nodded. "That's right," he said. "And there's still Greed there as well, because otherwise he would be satisfied with what he had accomplished. Gluttony always comes along with Greed, of course, and Lust as well."

"What about Sloth, Envy, and Wrath?" asked Martha.

The Doctor smiled grimly. "He has always been envious of me," he said. "He hates that my name is loved throughout the universe. It's hated of course too, you can't get as big as I am without making enemies along the way, and the Master's not even the greatest of my enemies, just the oldest." He sighed. "There are worlds out there that are alive because of me, and he detests me for it." He gave them a sidelong look. "That's where his Wrath comes in, of course."

"And Sloth?" said Sean.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not sure about that one," he said. "The Master I know has always been willing to put in a bit of work to get what he wants. I don't know how I would ever see that manifesting itself, but it is possible."

"This is heavy," said Sean. "I'll see what I can get off of the computer. Let me know if you find anything out, Doctor." Sean turned to Martha. "Be careful," he said to her quietly. "Don't do anything foolish."

She chuckled and jerked her head to the Doctor. "It's him you have to worry about," she said. "I'll have to be the one pulling him back." She reached out to touch the screen just as Sean did the same on his side. It was almost as though their fingers were touching. Almost.

The Doctor cut off the transmission abruptly. He was frowning at her.

"What on earth did you do that for?" asked Martha angrily.

"You're married!" he said. "I've had to deal with this kind of thing before, though she was engaged, and she was trying snog me the night before her wedding." He chuckled. "Goodness, that night seemed to last for years. He died twice and went out of existence and back, and then the universe blew up." The Doctor looked back at her. "I wasn't super comfortable with that situation, although I was much more heavily involved in the why of it."

Martha waved him off. "Mickey and I have an open marriage. We spent a great deal of time with Captain Harkness, so maybe some things rubbed off on us, ideas about the perfect marriage not being the only thing."

Her friend shuddered. "That is not the image that I wanted!" he cried out. "The Captain, of course, I understand, and he has implanted images like that in my mind for years; centuries in fact, but I'm just not used to it from you, Martha Jones!"

She waited a bit. "Are you done?" she asked. "Because if you'd like to have a tantrum about how and with whom Mickey and I spend our nights, I'm sure that the universe will wait for you to grow up."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever you want," he said. "Just as long as you let Mr. Mickey know what you're doing with Sean."

Martha nodded. "We have a full communication about what and who we do when we're apart, and of course we will occasionally have someone together."

The Doctor shuddered again. "Images!" he cried. "That's enough with the images!"

Martha laughed. "So what now, Mr. Time Lord?" she asked.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'll run the TARDIS through the Windows Vista code," he said. "Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you. I'll run the Windows Vista code through the TARDIS computer for her to find something interesting in it."

"And if she does?" asked Martha.

"Well, I suppose it depends on what she finds," he said. "Until then, I'll run a search for more major incidents involving the homunculi. Greed was suspiciously absent during the Drum Corps International World Championships incident."

"What would signify a Greed attack?" asked Martha. "Would it be like a massive bank robbery, where everyone inside the bank decides to rob it all at the same time?"

The Doctor nodded. "It would be something like that, yes," he said. "Although it might be more subtle than that." He thought for a minute. "Maybe it would be something on Wall Street."

Martha raised her eyebrows. "You're not a huge fan of the one percent, are you Doctor?" she asked.

The Doctor laughed lightly. "You could say that," he replied. "Even though I may or may not have enough money to effectively buy Earth somewhere here on the TARDIS, I still understand what it's like to have nothing. Even the so called self made million- and billionaires don't really remember their friends from when they were young and poor. They made new, rich friends that only liked and appreciated them for their money. It's vile," he spat. "Greed is quite possibly the ugliest sin there is. It turns people into monsters. Worse is when Greed is teamed with Envy." He sat back. "Just add Wrath and you have a murder on your hands."

"But from what the Master said at the competition, Greed has separated from the rest of them," said Martha. "I don't think we'll see anything other than isolated acts of greed, though there would be a lot of people involved in them."

The Doctor, while he had been talking, had begun the process of running Windows Vista on the TARDIS. He looked up when he hit the start up command. "Well, I suppose it's as good of a time to try to find some mass bank robberies." He set the TARDIS to begin analyzing the code, and went to another monitor to start searching through human history for acts of mass greed.

Before he could type in one key word though, the TARDIS began whining as though it was about to take off.

"No, no, no," said the Doctor, running to the console to cancel the liftoff. "I didn't tell you to take me anywhere yet!"

An angry noise came out of the console, and the whooshing and whining continued. The machinery was going up and down.

"What's she doing, Doctor?" cried Martha, suddenly worried.

"I don't know," said the Doctor, running back to the screen that was running the Windows system. "I think it might be the operating system. Something in it may have triggered the time travel."

"How could it do that?" asked Martha.

He looked at her. "It all depends on who wrote the code," he said. "If someone knew enough about TARDIS systems, there could be a seemingly innocuous line of code that would tamper with the system and possibly take it over."

"Doesn't the TARDIS have a firewall or something?" she asked.

"It does, and if I had thought that the Master had a hand in writing the Windows Vista code, I would have disconnected the TARDIS from the operating system, aside from the analysis procedure itself."

At these words, the TARDIS landed with jarring crash, sending the Doctor and Martha to the floor. They got up gingerly.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. "Where, and when, are we?"

The Doctor shook his head, looking at the view screen and typing furiously. "I'm not sure, the TARDIS has locked me out," he said. He smacked himself in the head. "That's where Pride has gotten me, thinking that I'm impenetrable and impervious to any kind of attack, including from him."

"So do we just go outside?" asked Martha.

The Doctor shrugged, but a grin was spreading over his face. "I guess so!" he exclaimed. "Oh, I do love a good adventure where I have no idea where we've ended up or even if the air is breathable!" He ran over to the doors and threw them open. "Hello, new world!" he called out. "Come and get me!"

An arrow appeared in the door frame next to his head. He looked at it, shocked. "I didn't mean right away, of course!" He grabbed the arrow and was about to shut the doors again, but a large, armored arm grabbed him and pulled him out.

"Doctor!" called Martha, starting after him, but she was too late. The doors shut again, and the TARDIS made its familiar whining.

"No, please," she cried. The time machine made no response to her pleas, now as cold and evil as the system now running it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 3

The Palaver of Pandora and the Pleonectic Predator

I refused to talk with him. This creature, this Greed, would not beat me in a battle of wills. I went over to Stormageddon and stroked his mane, glaring at Greed the whole time. He simply laughed.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" he said smugly. "I decide when and if that beast of yours awakens. And the only way I am going to do that is if you decide that you need my help." He sat back against the tree lazily. "Take your time, of course. He'll die of thirst long before I let up." He gazed into my eyes seriously. "Don't kid yourself about a battle of wills, kid. You and I both know you lost that a long time ago when you decided to open a box."

Something snapped inside of me. "It was a jar!" I yelled, leaping up and storming toward him. I didn't know what I planned to do to him, whether it be hitting him upside the head with a coconut, or just placing my hands around his throat and choking him. Both actions, I knew, would be utterly pointless. I couldn't hurt him, and I certainly couldn't kill him. I stopped just short of leaping on him upon realizing this.

He smirked. "Are you ready to talk now?" He leaned forward. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing to the ground. I didn't move, and his eyes narrowed. "Trust me; you'll want to sit down for this. I don't think you can stand the entire time." His eyes now glinted maliciously. "You humans were always weak in the knees when certain... things are spoken of."

An image of myself murdering the librarian and her husband flashed through my mind, and my legs did indeed give out under me. I slumped to my knees.

"That's better," he said. "Now, I am by myself, but of course every leader needs someone to follow him around."

I couldn't stop myself. "Or her around," came out of my mouth.

He raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the progressive one?" he said. He went on. "I need lieutenants if I'm going to rule the world. I need someone who will obey my every order, and without question. They will be treated with respect by all, including myself, but they will never rise to my position, and they must swear to never try to usurp me."

I scoffed. "Like I want the responsibility of ruling the world on my shoulders," I muttered. "I couldn't even handle the responsibility of keeping a single bo... a single jar closed."

The corners of Greed's mouth turned upwards. "Very good," he said. "You're a fast learner." His eyes flickered to where Stormageddon lay prone. "But if you had been listening carefully, you would have noticed that I said lieutenants. It was a plural. Could you vouch for someone to be at my left hand while you are at my right?"

I frowned. "I don't remember volunteering to be your right anything," I said. "Why would I agree to help you?"

"Because," he said silkily, "like it or not, you need my help just as much as I need yours. You're trying to get my former compatriots locked up again, yes?"

"Not just them," I said. "You're going back in that box, too."

He waved my reply off like a fly. "Sure, whatever you say," he said in a bored voice. "Do you know how to capture them? They can't be harmed by any normal means, and certainly not killed. We're ideas at their most basic. And an idea is something that is truly immortal!"

He finished this last statement off with a flourish, like he was a performer on stage. I rolled my eyes, but I knew he was right. I didn't have a clue how to capture the homunculi, and shook my head.

"No," he said, bobbing his head in acknowledgement of my response. "Well, I do happen to know how it could be done."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'll believe whatever you have to say when, and only when, I see it for myself."

Greed nodded. "That's very wise of you," he said. "Never trust anyone, especially your superiors." He grinned wickedly. "With that in mind, at least listen to what I have to say."

I twirled my fingers, indicating for him to go on.

He smiled at the motion. "Now, I don't know exactly how it will work, but I do know how it starts."

I stopped him. "Wait, first you say that you know how to capture them, and now you're saying you don't?" I stood up. "I don't need this, and I don't need you."

He stood up even more quickly and forced me back down. "You will listen to what I have to say. You will not interrupt me again. Do you understand?"

He had terrified me with how quickly he had moved. I sat back down without arguing.

"Now that we've got your little tantrum out of the way," he said, breathing heavily and baring his teeth, "we can get back to the business at hand." He sat back down and glared at me. "I know how to begin the process of stopping my former comrades. You only have to get them to argue amongst each other enough to start using their powers and abilities against each other."

"I thought that you couldn't act on your own without permission from your master," I said. "You couldn't act on your emotion."

He nodded. "That may be true, but that doesn't mean we can't target each other with them," he said.

I thought for a moment. "Wouldn't you be immune to each other?"

He shook his head. "The Master didn't think about the possibility that we would turn on each other, considering he was too proud (he wagged his eyebrows at this) to imagine we could leave his control."

"So what happens when your powers begin affecting each other?" I asked, now very interested.

But he shook his head. "I don't know," he said.

I frowned. "So how do you know that all you just said will begin the process?" I asked.

He smiled. "I don't," he said. "I don't know that for sure, but there's nothing else that I can think of that hasn't been tried before."

I let out a breath in frustration. Greed had started talking like he could help, but it didn't seem like he knew anything at all.

"So let's say, for example, that this is even possible," I said. "And I'm not saying it is possible. Let's say that it will work. How are supposed to get them all together in the first place, and then how are we supposed to get them to turn against each other?"

Greed grinned. "The first part is easy. We have to find a place and time that is extremely volatile, where emotions are already running extremely high. It will also help if there's a lot of food there." At my puzzled look, he continued. "Gluttony needs something to work with."

"Won't people get hurt in a situation like that?" I asked. "If they're let loose against human beings, won't that put people in danger? I mean, look at me!" I held out my hands to him. "These hands murdered a lovely couple because of a simple act of Wrath!"

Greed smirked. "Of course people will get hurt," he said. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the tree. "But I suppose you should have thought of that before you opened your... jar."

I sat up angrily, looking to go after him for that comment, but he held up a hand.

I stopped and sat back. I knew that it was pointless to try to hurt him. He was just trying to rile me up.

"I know that you couldn't have foreseen what would happen when you opened it, because you had no idea what was inside it," he said. "If you had known, that would have taken away your reason for opening it in the first place. Knowledge takes away the need for curiosity, which, of course, is the need for knowledge itself."

I sighed. He was rambling, and there was no point that he was getting to that I could see. I made a twirling motion with my hand for him to go on.

He rolled his eyes at this. "My point is, that yes, people will be in danger of getting hurt," he said. "Isn't that worth it though? If my former comrades begin to irritate each other so much that they use their abilities against each other, isn't it worth the risk?"

I shook my head. "Absolutely not," I said. "It's not worth the risk of innocent lives."

He rolled his eyes again. It was very infuriating that he kept doing it, as though he were dealing with someone of infinite less intelligence than his own. To me, he simply seemed like an annoyed teenager when he did it.

"Don't you see though?" he asked. "Don't you realize? If they actually make it to that point and we can capture them, it will ultimately save infinitely more lives than any loss the humans may suffer!" I frowned, still not convinced. He twisted his neck to the right, frustrated with my stubbornness. "It's all for the greater good, isn't it?" he said.

I sighed. "Isn't there any other way to make it work?" I asked. "Couldn't we get them isolated? If there are no humans around, then there will be less chance for them to be distracted from aiming at each other. I mean," I said, with an air of believing what was coming out of my mouth, "aren't humans the common enemy of you people?"

This appeared to make him stop and think a little. "You know, you have a point," he said. "But how would you get them to show up in one place together without an extremely large human element?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I said. "You're one of them, and you're out here in the middle of nowhere."

"That's because I got you to meet me here," he said. "Very clever, figuring out that you needed to fly here to read my directions accurately." I sneered at him, and he smiled back. "So maybe what we want is some way to make them believe that they want to go to some place that's in the middle of nowhere and completely isolated from any humans, but they have to think that it's their idea."

"How do we get them to do that?" I asked.

"Bait," he said, wagging his eyebrows at me.

I gulped. I didn't like the sound of that.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 4

The Master Control Program

Sean had gone back to the Thompson's house once the Doctor had cut off the transmission. He was stinging a little bit from it, and wished he had been able to say a better goodbye to Martha. A more physical one would have been nice, but oh well.

He was back in the secret room of the house, and he booted up the computer that still held the Doctor's face as the screensaver. Then, oddly, the face changed to a much older man that had very severe eyebrows and red lining inside his coat. As he watched, the image changed to another old man in plaid pants, and longer white hair, then a younger man with dark hair and holding what looked like a recorder. He still had odd plaid pants.

He shook his head to bring himself back to what he was supposed to be doing. He touched the screen and the desktop came up. Looking at it still made him shiver. He didn't know much about code or what went into programming an operating system. His best option, he thought, was to take the computer with him and get to the TARDIS.

Before he could even think about how to get the computer out of there, something in the bottom left corner of the screen caught his eye. It was a folder labeled "Windows Vista code".

He frowned. "That wasn't there before," he said. At least he thought it wasn't. He may have just been so taken aback by seeing the hated desktop that he hadn't noticed something out of the way in the corner of the screen.

Yeah, he really believed that.

He tapped the folder on the screen anyway, and it opened to a video showing a familiar face.

"Doctor!" he said.

"Yes, it's me," said the Doctor.

"What are you doing on the computer?" asked Sean.

"I'm talking to you of course, try to keep up." said the Doctor.

"Wait, how did you get on here?" asked Sean.

"I knew that folder would get your attention," the Doctor said with a grin on his face. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist it, even though common sense would have told you to bring the computer straight to me."

"Wait," said Sean. "Are you saying that this isn't a live chat right now, and you and Martha didn't just finish talking to me?"

"That's right," said the Doctor. "This is a recording of me having half of a conversation. I seem to remember having immense success with this sort of thing before, although people did die. Well, they went back in time and then lived to death." The Doctor looked very serious now. "If you ever see a statue of a stone angel that looks like it's weeping, don't look away from it. Ever."

Sean raised his eyebrows. "So you're saying... that I shouldn't blink?"

The Doctor smiled. "That's right, I remember! Don't blink!"

Sean rolled his eyes. "So how do you know what I'm going to say?"

It was the Doctor's turn to roll his eyes. "I've got the finished transcript. It's on my autocue."

"What's an autocue?" asked Sean.

"It's a teleprompter, Mr. American," said the Doctor.

"Oh," said Sean. "How do you have it? I'm only just now saying it."

"I'm a time traveler," said the Doctor, now exasperated and feeling a lot of Deja vu. "I got it in the future."

"But nobody is here recording what I'm saying," said Sean.

"You think that the Master doesn't have some sort of recorder in that room?" asked the Doctor. "Just in case someone is able to find their way into it and mess around with his things?"

Sean swallowed. He had not thought of that.

The Doctor laughed. "No, he doesn't," he said. "I put one in there when I planted this video on the computer, that way I could catch you saying everything you were saying, and be able to respond to it."

Sean's head was hurting. "How does that work?" he asked. "You couldn't have brought it in a recording of something you said if you didn't know yet what you were responding to!"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, you bring the recorder to me the next time you see me. That way I can get down everything I say and everything that you say. It's all wibbly wobbly timey wimey."

Sean waved him off. "Never mind that," he said. "What do I do with the computer?"

"You have to bring it to me, so that I can find out that the Master is the one that is behind the code of Windows Vista in the first place," said the Doctor. "I know I just said it, so I already know it, but if you don't bring it to me, I won't know it. I know it now because you did bring it to me, or will bring it to me. It was my past, and it will be your future. If you don't, it will create a paradox and destroy two thirds of the universe."

Sean smacked a hand to his head. "I really hate those," he said. He went to grab the computer and pick it up.

"Wait!" the Doctor shouted.

"What?" asked Sean. "What now?"

"You have to remember to make it look like nothing has happened in this room," said the Doctor. "Bring up the other computer from behind the desk."

Sean looked back there. "Where did that come from?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" asked the Doctor. "I put it here so you could replace the one currently there with it. It's identical to the one that is there right now, with the exception that it doesn't have this video on it."

Sean nodded. "Okay," he said. "Then what?"

"Once you set that computer up, you must bring this computer back to your house, and get in touch with the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "I'm not on it right now, but Martha should be. The end of this video has instructions on how to get me back from the Pilgrims."

"What?" asked Sean incredulously.

The Doctor shook his head. "There's no time to explain, now set up the computer and grab the computer and get out of there now!"

Sean didn't waste a second. He shut down the computer he was on and grabbed it. He set the other computer up as quickly as he could and sent it to the screensaver. Now there was a man with white hair and an opera cape. The image morphed into a man with wild eyes, a fedora, and an extremely long and colorful scarf.

He nodded, satisfied. He picked up the computer he was taking with him, and pressed the button in the corner on the wall. The room went back to its other appearance, with the pad of paper and pencil on the desk with the chair. He turned off the light, opened the door, and went back down to the basement and back up to the outside as quickly as he could. Rushing home, he knew he had to get in touch with Martha. The fate of the universe depended on it.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter Five

Martha in the Meantime

Martha stared at the door of the TARDIS. It was still whining and shaking, and she had no idea as to where she would end up. She didn't even know where she had just been. All she knew was that the Doctor had been grabbed out of the TARDIS, and then been left behind when it jumped again through time and space.

She rushed to the monitor and began typing furiously. She wasn't exactly sure what she was hoping for, just that the time machine would stop behaving like it was.

All at once, the shaking and vworping stopped. The TARDIS seemed to have landed. Martha looked at the viewscreen to the outside. It was very nondescript. She frowned. What was she supposed to make from a random grassy field? She could be anywhere, in anywhen. She typed in "where and when am I?" into the system, hoping against hope that she would get a response.

To her surprise, she did. On the monitor in front of her, a location and date popped up. "Huh," she said. "Of course."

It was back in London, in 2007. She shook her head in disbelief, then stopped herself. There was another her out there in 2007, along with her family, and Captain Jack somewhere, and the Doctor in his old body. As much as she wanted to see her family, she knew it was too dangerous. She pulled up the last communication the TARDIS had, which was with Sean, but the connection was bad. All she got was snow on the screen and static from the speakers.

"Agh!" she screamed. "Why not?"

LINK NOT YET ESTABLISHED flashed across the screen in big bold letters.

"You're supposed to be a time machine!" she shouted. "Can't you send messages through time?"

She knew, of course, why it wasn't working. The Doctor wasn't here. The Doctor would know what to do. But what, and how could she get him back? She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. At that moment, though, the door opened, and a familiar face poked its head in.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed.

But this was the Doctor she had known the best, not the man he was now. This one was tall and skinny, dressed in a brown suit with blue pinstripes, and long brown coat. She didn't know if she'd ever been happier to see someone.

He, on the other hand, didn't look pleased at all to see her. In fact, he looked downright terrified. "Martha," he said. "Wait out here for a moment." She started toward him, but he stepped inside and closed the door. He walked toward her very slowly.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my TARDIS?" he asked.

Martha was hurt. "I'm Martha Jones!" she said. "You just said my name! Who else would I be?"

He shook his head, frowning deeply. "No, no," he said. "Martha Jones is standing outside right now, waiting for me." He stood now in front of her with a hand on his chin, and he was examining her very carefully. "You may be Martha Jones, but you may be someone else." He looked around. "The outside is the same," he said. "And it is bigger on the inside, so it's definitely a TARDIS. My TARDIS, judging by the outside. I don't recall this desktop though, and I've had this TARDIS for a long time. Now tell me," he said. "Are you my future self?"

Martha burst out laughing. "No, Doctor," she said, giggling. "I am a doctor, but there is only one The Doctor. I really am Martha Jones, and I'm from your future. This TARDIS is from your future!"

He looked around. "So I've redecorated then," he said. He frowned. "I don't like it."

Martha rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you're here, Doctor," she said. "I could really use your help."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled. She had to keep from swooning. She really missed that smile.

"You know I can't say no to a request for help from you, Martha Jones," he said. "Give me a moment, though, I have to go tell you to wait for me."

She smiled. "I know," she said. "You're going to tell me to go get a coffee and meet you by the light pole outside in twenty minutes." He looked impressed. "I told you, Doctor, I'm from your future, which means I'm from her future, too," she said, pointing outside. "I remembered."

He laughed. "Well, let me just go do that, and then we'll get down to business." He ran to the door, opened it and peered out. Martha heard her own voice give confused words of assent, and then the Doctor popped back in and closed the door.

"This isn't going to take longer than twenty minutes, is it?" he asked, looking concerned. "I know what an awful amount of trouble I can get into, and it usually takes me about forty five minutes to get out of it." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's almost exactly the length of an hour long show on the telly, minus the commercials, come to think of it."

Martha shook her head. "You'll be fine," she said. "Think of it as a sitcom amount of time. I remember, remember?" she added, grinning.

He grinned back at her. "It's all wibbly wobbly time wimey!" he said.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. "Here's the thing, Doctor," she said. "The TARDIS was analyzing code from Windows Vista."

"Ugh!" he said, interrupting her and sticking out his tongue. "Whatever for? Why would you want to do that to her?" He looked around and patted the nearest surface. "What have I done to you, girl?"

"It's the Master," she said.

Instead of looking terrified, he looked simply confused. "I haven't seen him in ages," he said. "How do you know about him?"

She shook her head. "It's something we're dealing with right now, and of course I can't tell you, because of the whole paradox thing, and not knowing too much about your future."

The Doctor appeared to be looking into space, trying to process all of this. "So what are you doing here, telling me all of this?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Doctor," said Martha. "The TARDIS was analyzing the code and all of a sudden it took us, that is, you and me, somewhere else. He looked outside, and a moment later something pulled him out, and the TARDIS brought me here."

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Didn't he... I... check to see where or when we were before going out?"

Martha threw up her hands. "We tried, but we weren't getting any readings. He went outside to look." She shrugged.

The Doctor took a moment and went to the monitor. He typed a couple things into it and it pulled up a place and date. "He's in the late sixteen hundreds, in America."

"How did you find that out so quickly?" Martha asked.

The Doctor laughed. "The TARDIS knows me well enough to know to give me what I want. It doesn't matter what kind of code is messing with her, I know how to help her out of it."

Martha raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, Doctor. Can we go get you now?"

He grinned. "The desktop may have changed, but she's still mine," he said. He stepped to the console. He gave her a sly wink and pulled a lever. "Allons-y!"

The TARDIS whined and shook, and a moment later, the Doctor was stepping to the doors. "Coming, Martha?" he called over his shoulder.

She grinned and ran after him. They went out the doors and looked around. Martha hadn't seen past the Doctor before he had gotten pulled out, so she had no clue what to expect when she went after him.

It turned out to be some sort of military camp. It was exceptionally primitive, but she figured that was just because of the time that she was in. Looking around, she saw that the soldiers running around were carrying what appeared to be muskets. "Doctor," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't come out with you."

"Why not?" he said. "You're not worried about the color of your skin, are you?"

She shrugged, looking at the ground. "This is America in the late seventeenth century," she said, and gestured around. "All of these soldiers are white. These sorts of men would have seen me and wondered what I'm doing out of chains, let alone in the kind of clothes I'm in."

The Doctor nodded, and took a necklace out of one of his pockets. It looked like the TARDIS key on the end of it. He put it over her head. "There now," he said. "How's that?"

She smiled. "I had forgotten about this," she said. "Thank you, Doctor."

Now unhindered by the fear of being seen and judged because of the color of her skin, Martha followed the Doctor threw the camp. All of the walls looked like river rafts, as though they had simply been cut down logs lashed together. This of course is exactly how they had been built. The buildings in the camp were crude tents, and the Doctor was headed towards one particularly large tent from which a booming voice was shouting. He raised his eyebrows in Martha's direction.

One other thing Martha noticed was that it didn't seem that the soldiers were noticing the Doctor either. He didn't have a necklace on, but she supposed when you looked like you knew where you were going, or walked around like you owned the place, people tended to stay out of your way. She shook her head in disbelief.

The Doctor pulled back the large tent's flap and walked in with Martha close behind him. The booming voice was coming from a short but rotund man dressed all in purple.

"I want to know who this man is!" the voice was saying. "He comes sauntering out of this big blue box in the middle of an Indian raid, and you just decide to grab him and bring him with you back into our camp."

"But sir," said a taller, but much more timid man, "he's clearly British, judging by his accent. I could never leave a fellow countryman to the mercy of those savages."

"I resent that remark," said another voice that was familiar to Martha.

"What?" said the first man, who appeared to be the leader, and Martha moved to the side.

There she could see the Doctor being guarded on two sides by soldiers, and he winked at her before going on. "I refuse to allow you to call the native peoples of this land savages," he said. "They have not given you any reason to believe such a thing about them."

Martha grinned. That was the Doctor all over.

Then her Doctor spoke up. "That goes for me as well," he said aloud, and for the first time the soldiers turned and saw him. The other Doctor was silently laughing.

Her Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something that looked like a wallet. Martha knew it to be his psychic paper. "Ministry of her Majesty," he said. "I mean His Majesty of course," he amended. "I'm here to ensure that no undo harm comes to the natives of this land, this new world, as my colleague has said." He eyed the other Doctor, who nodded. "I'll thank you to release him and allow him to show his credentials as well."

The man in purple looked at the psychic paper. "Huh," he said. "It seems he's telling the truth." He looked over at the two soldiers guarding the other Doctor. "Let him go," he said. "Take a look at his credentials just to make sure."

The Doctor took out his psychic paper and let the guards look at it closely. "It's okay, sir," said the man who had apparently brought the Doctor here. "It's legitimate."

"Thank you," said the Doctor. "And thank you again for pulling me out of that unfortunate incident with the Native Amer... er, native peoples. I'm sure your two peoples will get along famously from here on out, once you've sorted out your differences." He looked at Martha and shook his head slightly so that only she could see.

"And what gives you the idea that we will allow them to continue living here?" asked the man in purple. "They have attacked us over and over ever since we got here."

"You're an invading army!" said the spiky-haired Doctor. "I know all about what happens when an unknown army invades a place that people already have a claim to. What exactly did you expect to happen?"

The man in purple frowned. "Who exactly are you?" he asked.

"I'm the Doctor," said the Doctor. "And just to get it out of the way, so is he," he added pointing at the Doctor with the bow tie. "The real question is, who exactly are you?"

The man in purple pulled himself up importantly. "My name is Ratcliffe," he said. "I am in charge of this expedition, and I will not allow my men to be slaughtered by people who are not people at all!"

The two Doctors looked at each other and nodded. "Then I'm afraid," said Spiky.

"That we will have to force you to sit down with each other," continued Bow Tie.

"And have a meal together." finished Spiky.

The man who called himself Ratcliffe furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. "You'll force us to what?"

"You heard us," said the Doctor. "You'll sit down and have a meal with each other, and discuss what each of you is thankful for. You will go on a hunt together and find turkey to bring back to the table, and you will have corn and cranberries."

"And you're going to enjoy it so much, it will be a tradition in what will be this country for centuries and millennia to come," said the other Doctor.

Ratcliffe's eyes narrowed further. "What makes you think we'll listen to you?" he said slowly.

The Doctors showed him their psychic paper again. "If you don't, we will have to report you to His Majesty," said Spiky. "And he will have you called back and reprimanded for disobeying a sacred decree from His Majesty."

Ratcliffe sighed. "Fine, then," he said. "You're just lucky that I like turkey." He nodded to his soldiers, and they all left the tent.

The Doctors and Martha were left alone in it. "Let's go," said the Doctor, and they all went back to the TARDIS.

"Well done, you two," said Martha once they were back in the box. "You just helped bring two peoples together, and potentially saved countless lives in the process."

Spiky shrugged. "We can't say that for sure, but we at the very least influenced one man to be more peaceful," he said. "Now let's get me back to my Martha, and get you two back to where you came from. And apparently to where I'm going."

They took Spiky back to London, where he gave Martha a hug and slapped Bow Tie on the shoulder before running out the door, big brown coat flapping behind him.

"I do miss being him from time to time," said the Doctor, smiling.

BEEP BEEP went the TARDIS.

"Incoming message from Sean," said the Doctor, glancing at the monitor. "Let's see what he wants."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 6

Together Again

"Doctor!" exclaimed Sean as the screen went live. "I thought you were with the Pilgrims!"

The Doctor grinned. "Martha actually helped me out of that situation, with a little help from me."

"Huh?" asked Sean, his brow furrowing.

Martha shook her head. "Don't ask," she said. "It's complicated. Very complicated. Suffice it to say that people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non linear, non subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff."

"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey," repeated Sean matter of factly. He turned to the Doctor. "Isn't that what you said?"

"I've said it before, yes," said the Doctor. "Though not to you, and not with this face."

"You change faces?" asked Sean. "Why does that not surprise me?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Never mind that, I have the computer." He held it up for them to see. "Should you come to me, or should I come to you?"

In response, he heard a familiar vworping sound coming from outside his house. He grinned. "I'll see you in a moment then." He shut down the communication and ran out to his back yard with the computer.

He grinned when he saw the big blue box. Martha opened up the door and let him in. He wrapped her up in a big hug and handed the computer off the Doctor. She kissed him on the cheek. "Good to see you, love," she said.

He grinned at her. "Glad you're all right," he replied. "I wasn't sure what happened to you when we got cut off before."

Martha's eyes flickered to the Doctor, and he followed her gaze. "We just got interrupted," she said. "The Windows Vista code messed with the TARDIS."

"We should try doing the same thing with the computer then," said Sean. "Only this time, separate the main TARDIS system from the part doing the analysis." He raised an eyebrow quizzically to the Doctor. "I thought you would have been able to figure that out before you tried to analyze the code in the first place."

"I know I should have done it before," said the Doctor, a bit defensively. "I just didn't expect what happened."

"We are dealing with the Master, Doctor," said Martha reasonably. "We need to be careful, and prepare for every eventuality. Better safe than sorry and all that."

The Doctor nodded. "Right you are," he said, then shivered. "I'm not sure that phrase suits me. It feels wrong to tell someone else that they're right, because it implies that I'm wrong. While it has been known to happen before, it..." he cut off at the looks on their faces. "Sorry," he said. "A bit of pride got in my way. Now let's see what we can't find out from this," he said, holding up the computer. He set it on the panel next to him. "Go ahead, girl," he said quietly. "Be careful with it this time, though."

Thirty minutes later, as Martha and Sean were in a corner talking quietly, the Doctor came up to join them, holding the Master's computer.

"Well?" asked Sean.

The Doctor shook his head. "For such a terrible system, the Master did an impressive job writing it. My guess is that he intended it to be terrible, as it only needed to be in circulation for a short amount of time. Just long enough to infiltrate the computers of a large portion of the technologically advanced world."

"Why?" asked Martha.

"Well, Martha Jones, we've dealt with people before that wanted to take over the world using computers. With this system though, something got through to the next systems. The Master used some algorithms to ensure that the system learned something about each users' habits on the computer."

Sean nodded. "Sure," he said. "A lot of systems have that in place, so that it becomes more user friendly the more you use it."

"Aha," said the Doctor. "But with this, it's exploiting those habits. It's learning if you have a tendency towards certain deadly sins. If you play violent video games, and especially if you use hostile language during those internet games, you're more susceptible to Wrath. If you look at pornography, you're more susceptible to Lust. If you put up a lot of selfies or spend a lot of time updating your blogs or Twitter, you're susceptible to Pride."

Sean's eyes widened. "And these algorithms were grandfathered into the new systems, so people are still being analyzed by them?" he asked.

"That's right," said the Doctor. "This is something that I hadn't anticipated. It's one thing to stop a virus before it gets out there, but now to eradicate it, I would have to get each individual computer to rewrite the code on it, and remove those algorithms."

Martha was silent through all of this, but now she spoke up. "Couldn't you do a massive software patch that would update all of the systems remotely?" she asked. "Write your own system that is exactly the same as the Master's, but without the logarithms?"

The Doctor grinned. "You are magnificent, Martha Jones!" He ran to her and kissed her on the forehead. "You are truly a star!" He ran towards the console, then turned around in a very giraffe like way. "Of course, I won't write the software, the TARDIS can do that much more quickly than I can, plus I have to talk my way into the Microsoft Headquarters." He grinned. "Health and Safety," he said, holding up his psychic paper. "Works every time."

He rushed to console and furiously typed away. At once, the TARDIS had taken the analyzed code from Windows Vista, found the algorithms, and deleted them.

Sean was impressed. "You sure do have a fine ship," he said.

The Doctor grinned. "Why do you think she chose to steal me?" he said, straightening his bow tie.

Sean shrugged dramatically. "Is she a poor judge of character?" he asked. "Did you make a really good first impression?"

The Doctor tried to glare at him, but just came across looking like a child having a staring contest with a cat.

"So it's off to Microsoft then," said Martha matter of factly.

"Geronimo!" said the Doctor, pulling a lever, and they were off.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 7

Dangling from a Hook

I didn't know that a horse, let alone a Pegasus, could give a look of such outright disgust. However, sure enough, Stormageddon was looking at Greed as though he were something stuck to the bottom of his hoof.

"Come on, horsey," said Greed silkily. "Don't be like that. It'll be fun for all! It will especially be fun for me, but I'll make sure to cut you in on the action too."

Stormageddon snorted and looked at me. "How could you agree to go along with this demon?" he asked me with an unnecessary amount of righteousness. "You know he'll betray you, he'll betray us, the first chance he gets!"

I shook my head. "I know that he's not trustworthy," I said.

Greed mocked injury at this. "Me, untrustworthy?" he asked sarcastically. "How could you say such a thing?" He let out a melodramatic groan, and fell to the ground as though he were fainting.

I cast him a cool look, and then looked back at Stormageddon. "He's definitely not trustworthy," I continued. "I know that he's only looking out for himself ultimately, but I also know that he's the only person that can really help us get rid of these monstrosities for good."

Stormageddon cocked his head. "How can you be so sure that nobody else is able to help us?" he asked. "What about the gods?"

I shook my head. "They're vulnerable too," I said. "And they can't interfere too much anyway. It goes against some sort of rule."

If Stormageddon had eyebrows, he would have raised one of them with the amount of incredulity he was now looking at me with.

I threw up my hands. "What do you want from me?" I asked him. "I talked to Zeus. I talked to Athena. They helped me as much as they could!"

"What about the other gods?" he asked.

I shrugged. "If the most powerful god can't help, and the wisest one can't help, how could any of the others do any good?"

He blew air out of his mouth to make his lips flap. I assumed this meant that he wasn't satisfied with the alternative with which we were left.

I looked at him imploringly. Finally his head drooped and he nodded.

"Fine," he said through his teeth, and he looked at Greed. "But be warned, demon. If you show a hint of betrayal... if for a second I suspect you are about to double cross us... I will put this hoof," and he lifted his back right leg, "through your face." To demonstrate, he kicked the nearest tree just hard enough to knock a coconut down, and then kicked out again. There was a crunching sound, and the coconut was on the ground in shattered pieces. "That is your face," said Stormageddon icily. "Do you understand?"

Greed said nothing, but nodded stiffly. I didn't think he was particularly scared of the prospect, since he couldn't die, but I wondered if he could feel pain.

Stormageddon apparently wasn't finished. "And one more thing?" he said, his voice deathly soft. "If you call me horsey one more time, that will be both of your knees, along with whatever is between your thighs."

This time Greed visibly swallowed, but it may have just been for show.

There was a period of time in which none of us spoke. Stormageddon and I were both looking at Greed, with Greed himself appearing to look at nothing at all.

"Well?" I asked when the silence had become unbearable. "What do we do then?"

Greed looked up and appeared to shake himself out of his reverie. "Well, we need to go somewhere else now," he said, then smiled. "Or rather, we need to go some when else."

I started to roll my eyes, but Greed stopped me by lifting a finger. "We'll have no more of that, young lady," he said. "I'm your boss now, and you will at least show manners, if not respect."

I grudgingly nodded. "How will we go some when else then?" I asked.

He held out his arm. "Grab a hold," he said. "And hold on to him if you want him to come along," he added, nodding at Stormageddon.

I didn't want to have to touch the creature, but I reached out and took a hold of Greed's wrist. I wrapped my other arm around Stormageddon's neck and held him close. He nickered softly.

"Here we go!" said Greed. I blinked.

When I opened my eyes, I could see we were no longer in a desert oasis. We were now in what appeared to be a desert village, but everyone was running around, and you could almost cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"Oops, almost forgot," said Greed, and he reached out to touch Stormageddon's wing. It disappeared at his touch.

I looked in anger at him. "What did you just do?" I asked.

"Hush, child," he admonished. "The people in this place are not as forgiving of appearances as you are. They would not appreciate a Pegasus in their midst, and would shoot him on sight. Now he just looks like a regular horse to them."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean by 'he looks like a regular horse'?" I asked.

Stormageddon spoke up. "I still have my wings, Pandora," he said. "I believe he has simply turned them invisible." I felt a quick gust of wind from his direction. "See?"

Greed smirked. "Of course she can't see, you flying hippo," he said. "That's the point."

Stormageddon stared daggers at the homunculus. "I'm warning you, demon," he growled.

Greed held up a finger. "Uh uh uh," he said. "We can't have you talking. What would these people think of a talking horse?"

As much as it sickened me, I had to agree. "He's right, Stormageddon," I said. "You just have to keep quiet for a while." I looked at Greed. "So where exactly are we, and why are we here?"

"We're in a country not terribly far from your own," he said. "Just across the Mediterranean Sea and to the east, we are in a place called the Middle East, in a country called Afghanistan."

"When are we?" asked Stormageddon, forgetting his agreement to keep silent.

Greed grinned. "That's the best part," he said gleefully. "Today is September eleventh, in the year two thousand and one."

I looked at Stormageddon and he looked back at me. Neither of us knew what significance that date held, nor why it was important that we were in a place called Afghanistan on that date.

Greed slumped comically. "Don't tell me you don't know what today is!" he cried. We shook our heads. Greed waved it aside. "That's okay," he said, and jerked his thumb at the people running about, and who were still apparently oblivious to us. "They know what's about to happen across the ocean, in New York City and Washington, D.C."

"What?" I asked urgently. "What's going to happen? Where are those places anyway?"

Greed's smile widened. "They're in America, where your friend Agnes and her husband lived. Washington, D.C. is the capital of that nation, and New York City is their largest metropolis. As for what's going to happen..." His sentence trailed off and he let it hang there for a moment. "Well, you'll see." He skipped a bit, and I was suddenly terrified for the people in America.

"What exactly is this place?" I asked. "And I don't mean the country, but what are all these people doing running around here? What is this village?"

Greed shook his head. "This, my dear, is a training camp," he said. When I just looked at him blankly, he continued. "It's a terrorist training camp."

I had never heard the word terrorist before, so I must still have had a look of confusion on my face.

Greed was getting increasingly frustrated at my ignorance. "My goodness, you are stupid," he muttered, and got right in my face. "This place is intended to train people to terrorize others!" He waved his arm around. "Do you see these people that are all running around? They're called the Taliban! They are dedicated to seeing everyone that is not like them or don't believe the way they do be eradicated from the earth!"

It was finally starting to sink in. "So," I started hesitantly. "So, they have weapons and intend to scare people that aren't like them?"

Greed shook his head. "It's not just about scaring them," he said. "It's about terror. It's about making people fear so much that they will change their ways into becoming like themselves!" He gestured at the people still running around. "Do you understand now?"

I hesitated, still hardly daring to believe it. "But that's insane!" I said. "You can't scare people into changing who they are. How can they think that will work?"

Greed shrugged. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you hit the nail on the head," he said. "They are insane. But they think they're right, and unfortunately for about three thousand people, they think all of America is wrong."

I could feel my heart beating very fast. "What's going to happen?"

Greed didn't say anything, but gestured for Stormageddon and I to follow him. There was a large fabric building, what Greed called a tent, set up in the middle of the camp. We headed towards it. There were a lot of voices coming out of the tent.

When I stepped in, I was surprised. There were screens that I recognized all over the tent. I remembered Agnes talking about something called a television. These screens must be televisions. They were showing all kinds of different images, but the three largest screens were focused on some large buildings. One screen was looking at a pair of very tall towers, one, was looking at a stone building in the shape of a pentagon, and the other was looking at a white building that appeared to be made of stone and had columns in the front of it.

"Those are the World Trade Center towers in New York," whispered Greed in my ear and pointing. "That's the Pentagon and the White House in Washington D.C."

I swallowed. "What's going to happen to them?"

Greed pursed his lips. His glee seemed to be gone now. I didn't want to think about what could make him as pale as he had turned. I turned back to the screens and watched.

In a moment, I saw a flying craft that looked like a bird near the buildings Greed had called the World Trade Center towers. As I watched in horror, the metal bird hit one of the towers. There was a great ball of fire that came out of the point of impact.

My hand went to my mouth and I looked at Greed again. "Were there people in there?" I breathed, trying to choke back tears.

He nodded solemnly. "In the tower and on the plane." At my confused look, he went on. "The metal bird that hit it is called a plane." He nodded at the people gathered in the tent.

I was sickened to see that they were all cheering. How could they be so happy about such a great loss of life? Through my sorrow and grief, I didn't notice myself start to get angry at them.

My eye was drawn back to the screen with the burning tower and its twin. A second plane was in the picture now. "No," I whispered. "No."

But it was useless to say anything. The second plane hit the second tower about halfway up with an even larger fireball coming from the impact point. At that moment I knew that the knowledge of fire that Prometheus had stolen was not a good thing. That humans had learned of such a thing and created this kind of devastation with it was an abomination.

I heard a small hiccup and turned. I was shocked to find that Greed was actually crying over the situation. It was lost among the shouts of jubilation around us.

"Why aren't you cheering along with them?" I asked him bitterly, and nodded at the picture of destruction. "I would think that you'd be happy about this."

Greed swallowed. "You would think that, wouldn't you?" he said, and shook his head. "I'm sad for the exact reason that they're happy."

I shrugged and shook my head. "Don't talk to me in riddles, Greed," I said.

He stared at me. "You have no idea what those two buildings are, do you?" he asked.

"No," I said. "You said they were the World Trade Center towers. What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's about trade," said Greed. "That's where the stock exchange is." He pointed at the people around the room, still smiling and shaking hands. "To them, it's the center of America's greed, and one of the reasons that America needs to fall. Those towers being hit is a triumph for them."

Then it dawned on me. "So you're upset that the center of America's greed is gone, not that thousands of people just died?" I was really getting angry now.

He shrugged. "What can I say?" he said. "I can't change who or what I am. I am Greed. I revel when someone makes a lot of money for the sake of making money. I abhor when someone does something selflessly. Not that this act was selfless," he said, nodding at the burning buildings. "The people around you entirely have their own interests at heart. But that symbolism of greed is a great loss." He put a hand on where his heart would be if he had one, and hung his head.

I shook my head in disbelief. All of a sudden, there was another cry of elation. Looking back at the screens, I was just in time to see another plane smash into the side of the Pentagon building. I looked away. I didn't want to see anymore.

Stormageddon moved closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder. I leaned my head into his and sobbed quietly.

A few minutes went by where neither of us said anything. Then Greed tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up at him, glaring at him through my tears. He pointed at the people.

The joy was gone from their faces, and they were talking quietly. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it seemed like something had gone wrong. I looked at Greed for an explanation.

"The plane that was supposed to hit the White House went down in Pennsylvania somewhere," he said. "They're not sure what went wrong, but I know that the passengers on the plane overpowered the hijackers to bring it down."

Most of these words, like Pennsylvania, didn't mean anything to me, but I assumed it meant something good. "Did it land safely?" I asked. Greed shook his head.

"It crashed in a field," he said. "Everyone aboard perished. And look," he said, pointing back at the screen with the burning towers.

I was afraid to, but I couldn't stop myself. The second tower to be hit was now crumbling to the ground, and I knew that anyone that had managed to survive the initial strike and was still in the building was dead. I turned away. I didn't need to hear Greed telling me that people were jumping out of the upper floors to fall to their death. I didn't need to hear him tell me that they chose that rather than face the flames. I didn't need to hear him tell me that, minutes later, the other tower was falling as well. But Greed made sure that I heard.

The terrorists in the tent with us also made sure that I heard their cheers as the towers fell. It made me angry to hear their joy at such wanton destruction.

"They're saying 'death to America,'" said Greed in my ear. "Are you angry yet?"

I looked at him, finally realizing what this whole trip had been for. Greed smiled at me knowingly.

"Sorry, kid," he said.

"Bait," I said. "It's not their wrath for America that's the bait, it's mine against them."

"If there was anything that I knew would rile you up this much, it had to have been that amount of fire!" he nearly crowed, while somehow still keeping his voice down. "There were a couple of other spots I could have chosen. August sixth, nineteen forty five was one such place. Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!" he laughed.

I glared at him, disgusted. "Yeah, I guess I am angry," I said.

He nodded. "And it's too late," he said. "Wrath is here."

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and I felt my heart stop.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 8

The Gates of Hell

Sean couldn't help but giggle as they stepped out of the TARDIS in front of the main building.

"What's so funny, you?" asked Martha curiously.

He grinned at her and pointed. "It's Microsoft Office!" he said, chortling.

She rolled her eyes with a smile, but the Doctor grinned back at Sean.

"I do love people who appreciate puns," he said, laughing. "A man after my own hearts!"

Martha shook her head, not able now to contain her chuckles. The two men were quite the pair, Time Lord and human.

"Shall we?" she asked, offering them both her arms. They each looped their arms through hers and skipped towards the main entrance as though they were off to see the wizard. The wizard, in this case, happened to be Mr. Bill Gates.

"Do you think he's actually here?" asked Sean quietly as they entered the doorway and walked through the metal detector. The Doctor sonicked the detector itself, knowing that it would not allow the sonic screwdriver itself through. Still, they took off their belts and shoes, and put phones in the tub to go through the X ray machine. They had to keep up appearances, after all.

"That's highly unlikely, Sean," said the Doctor. "He is, after all, a multibillionaire. Even though this company belongs to him, he has countless people that work for him."

Martha covered a snort. "Then who is that?" she asked, pointing.

The thin man with glasses and a goofy grin that had just stepped out of a hallway toward the elevator could be none other than Bill Gates himself.

The Doctor shrugged. "So I was wrong," he said. "Shoot me. But don't really, because that's River's job, and she won't be really shooting me, she'll be shooting me in a me robot suit. The Tessalecta," he said to Martha and Sean's confused look. "No need to worry about it, it's already happened, and here I am, fit as a fiddle!" He grinned. "Shall we?" he said, gesturing to the elevator.

"We have to sign in first, Doctor," whispered Sean.

"Ah yes!" said the Doctor. "Nearly forgot!"

He strutted to the security desk and pulled out his psychic paper. "John Smith, Health and Safety," he said. "This is Martha and Sean, they're with me."

The old man sitting at the desk leaned forward and peered at the psychic paper over his glasses. He looked up at the Doctor and his companions in turn. Shrugging, he nodded them past.

"Is it always that easy?" asked Sean quietly as they walked toward the elevator.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not always," he said. "Some people are trained to look past the illusion and recognize psychic paper for what it is. The Church of the Silence, for one, trains people to do that, because they know I use it."

"Usually though, it's fine with regular Earth humans," said Martha. "At least in this time, because they have no idea who or what he really is."

Sean looked back at the metal detector they had walked through after he had pressed the up button for the elevator. "You have two hearts, right Doctor?"

"That's right," he said.

Sean hesitated. "If you were to walk through an X ray machine, would it pick up the second heart?"

The Doctor smiled. "Of course it would," he said. "Unless of course I had a setting on a certain tool of mine to make me read as human to any sort of machine like that." He pulled out the screwdriver and flipped it in the air to catch it again.

Sean shook his head. "Every time I'm with you, Doctor," he said. "Every time I think I won't be surprised or amazed, but then you go and surprise me anyway."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he does that," she said. "Just don't go telling him all the time. It gives him a big head."

The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. "Um, where do we go from here?" asked Sean.

"There's a key here," said Martha, pointing above the floor buttons. "Looks like software patches would happen on this floor," she said, pressing the button for the fifth floor.

It was a moment after the doors had closed and they started moving up that the Doctor jumped.

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Martha, suddenly tense.

"I know this music!" he said excitedly.

Sean snorted. "What, you mean every bit of elevator music ever?" he said skeptically.

The Doctor tapped his nose with a smile. "That's right!" he said. "I wrote this music!"

Martha looked at him, surprised. "You did?" she asked.

"Yes!" he said. "The Music of the Spheres, I call it. Isn't it lovely?"

Sean listened carefully. It just sounded like a bit of noise to him. "Um, if you say so, Doctor."

They arrived at the fifth floor and stepped out. "Which way?" asked Martha.

"It doesn't matter," said the Doctor. "We just need to find a computer and I'll update the software through it. The next time they have a patch, every computer with either Windows Vista or beyond will be updated without the extra sin code."

Sean grinned. "Do your magic, Doc," he said, pointing at an empty desk.

It was the matter of a few seconds before the Doctor had the computer up with the software running. He inserted the flash drive the TA

RDIS had spat out for him and the file started uploading.

"Now what?" Martha asked as they watched the progress bar grow. It was very slow, but then, Sean thought, it was a lot of data that was being processed.

"Now we wait," said the Doctor. "We could go up to meet Mr. Gates."

Martha raised an eyebrow. "How will we do that?" she asked. "Do health and safety inspectors commonly mingle with the owners of a company like this?"

"They do when they're me!" said the Doctor giddily. He propped his legs up on the desk and laced his fingers behind his head.

Martha and Sean exchanged a look. They didn't know what the Doctor had in mind.

He looked at them. "Well, we can't all go," he said. "Someone has to keep an eye on this. Why don't you two go up to his office and have a chat with him?"

Sean gaped. "You're joking, right?" he asked.

"I never joke," said the Doctor snappishly. "Well, yes I do, but that's not the point."

"What if whoever this desk belongs to comes back?" asked Martha.

"I'll tell them I'm performing status checks on all of the computers, and his is the last one," said the Doctor simply.

"Will he believe that?" asked Sean.

The Doctor pointed at the status bar. "I've got the status bar right here. Nothing can be done on this computer until it's complete." He sat back again and smiled. "Whether he believes me or not, he can't do any work with it until I'm finished. So he'll just have to believe me."

Sean nodded in understanding, but Martha had another concern. "And what exactly will we saying to Bill Gates?" she asked. "What do you say to the richest man on Earth?"

"You're clever, Martha Jones," said the Doctor. "Why do you think I chose you all those years ago? You'll think of something. You know what?" he said, struck by a thought. "Take this." He handed her the psychic paper.

Martha pursed her lips and took it. "Fine," she said. "But keep out of trouble, Mister," she added, wagging a finger at him.

"Never gonna happen," he replied with a child's smile on his face.

Sean took Martha's hand as they walked back to the elevator. She smiled at him stiffly and squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry," he said to her quietly as they boarded the lift. "How long has he lived? He can take care of himself."

"But I do worry," she said. "He's always the one to do something foolish like sacrificing himself to save the Earth. Or even sacrificing himself just to save one daft old man that got himself locked in a compartment about to be flooded with radiation."

"He did that?" asked Sean in awe.

Martha nodded. "He told me," she said softly. "That's how he ended up with the face he's got now. I knew him with his previous one. I fell in love with that face," she said after a moment's pause.

Sean raised his eyebrows. She waved him off. "I got out," she said casually. "He had just lost someone he loved very dearly. She got trapped in another universe. He couldn't see me through his grief. Oh he saw me, of course, he noticed me," she said at his expression. "But he couldn't see that I loved him, and he couldn't bring himself to love me. Eventually I realized I had to leave and let him heal without me pining over him."

"Wow," Sean breathed. He realized they had been standing in the elevator for several minutes at this point without it moving. He pressed the button for the top floor, which he assumed would be the executive offices and board rooms.

They rode up the lift in silence, just taking comfort in the touch of each other's hands. When it opened at the top, Bill Gates was standing right in front of them, clearly about to get on.

"Um," said Sean.

"Er," said Martha.

"Hello," said Bill Gates, smiling. "How can I help you?"

Martha swallowed. "Yes, Mr. Gates, we're with Health and Safety," she said. She showed Bill Gates the psychic paper that the Doctor had given her. He looked at it, then back at the two of them.

"This paper is blank," he said.

Martha and Sean looked at each other, then quickly back at Bill Gates. "I, I'm sorry?" said Martha, stuttering a little in her surprise.

Gates pointed at the psychic paper. "The bit of paper you're showing me is blank," he said. "There's nothing on it."

Martha turned it over to look at it. She, of course, knew it was blank, but Bill Gates should see what she wanted him to see. She turned it back toward him and pointed at where words would be. "No, sir, right there," she said. "Martha Jones, Health and Safety."

"Yes, I know who you are," said Gates. He sounded bored. "And there's no point in trying to hide behind a bit of psychic paper. Oh yes," he said, as their eyes widened. "I have a bit of psychic training. A person in my position needs to be able to protect him or her self against all kinds of attacks and intrusions."

"You know who I am, though?" asked Martha, her voice a bit shaky.

"Oh, yes indeed, Miss Jones," he said, smiling a little as though to calm her. "You're a member of the Unified Intelligence Task Force, or UNIT for short, and you're a known companion of the Time Lord that calls himself the Doctor."

Sean swallowed. This was bad, wasn't it?

Bill Gates had turned to look at him. "I don't believe I know who you are, though," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Just come along for the ride?"

Despite his growing fear, Sean felt a little bit of anger at this. He wasn't just a hitchhiker on the TARDIS. He was a part of events, and the Doctor relied on his help as much as anyone.

"I see I've offended you. I apologize," said Gates, not really sounding sorry at all. "All of the Doctor's companions start out just as you probably did, as just along for a quick ride. But then they become important. They specifically become important to him." Gates smiled now, and it wasn't a pleasant smile. "You really shouldn't have left him alone down on the fifth floor. He's gotten into a bit of trouble. But you two are in far worse trouble. He's going to have to come try to save you, but oops! He needs saving himself."

"Who are you?" asked Martha suddenly. Sean looked at her in amazement.

Gates, on the other hand, was nodding. "The Doctor has chosen well with you, Miss Jones, very well indeed. Very clever," he said, and his face started to melt.

When it was still again, Sean's eyes widened. "You!" he cried.

The Master smiled. "Yes, of course it's me," he said. "You may be wondering a few things now. First, where is Mr. Gates? That answer is simple enough, of course. He is indisposed. How am I able to take his form? I'm a Time Lord. We change faces when we're killed. As I cannot be killed, I have no limit as to when I change faces. I can turn into whoever I want."

"What about the Doctor?" Martha asked fiercely.

The Master frowned. "Unfortunately, his little program worked. I couldn't stop it, and I can't undo it." He sighed. "As for the Doctor himself, I'm afraid that there is no hope for him. He is doomed. As are you."

Martha and Sean looked at each other. What would they do now?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 9

Reeled In

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked Wrath.

He bared his teeth. "I'm not sure yet," he said with no small amount of bitterness in his voice. "That's not for me to decide."

Wrath had taken me instantly from the terrorist training camp the moment he had touched me. I wasn't sure where he had taken me, but I knew that I was still in the same when. I didn't know how I knew, but I did. I knew that Greed and Stormageddon would come to find me. Again, I didn't know how I knew, but I did.

Wrath had brought me to what looked like a wooden shack. It was bare except for a beat up wooden chair. I was seated in this chair now with my hands tied behind my back. Wrath was alternately pacing in front of me and leaning against the wall.

"Where are your friends?" I asked in the most biting voice I could manage. He didn't react to my tone.

"They're on their way, but they had some business to take care of first, elsewhere and elsewhen," he said.

I shook my head to clear my ears. That was a new word to me, but it made sense. We were in one when, and this business was in another. It was taking place at two different times, but at the same time. It was enough to make my head hurt.

"So what's going to happen in the meantime?" I asked. "We're just going to sit here and wait for them?"

Wrath nodded. "I hate it just as much as you do," he said. "This sitting and waiting thing is a job for Sloth, not Wrath." He punched a spot on the wall and it burst outward, revealing a bright speck of light. "It pisses me off!" he yelled.

I was confused. They had told me previously that they couldn't act on their own emotions. Greed, though, had said they could affect each other. Was this just some wrath leaking through? I had to see if it was possible, but I had to do it so he wouldn't take it out on me.

"Yes, it must be terrible for you," I said. "I know I would hate to be just someone to come when you're called, and go when you're told." I paused. "Like a servant. Like a slave."

Wrath's nostrils flared. "Wrath is nobody's slave," he said silkily, his soft voice sounding more dangerous then his yells. "Wrath is his own master!" he suddenly yelled, and he turned around and punched the wall again. This time a whole chunk of it flew outward, and light streamed in through the gaping hole he had made.

I detected a note of something familiar in his voice now. Acting on impulse, I said, "But how will you get the power to overthrow your current master? Doesn't he control you?"

Wrath whirled around and glared at me. "That is impossible now," he said. "I can be more powerful than him. I am more powerful than him!"

I had to work hard to keep a smile from my face now. My freedom was close now. There was a definite note of greed coming from him.

"What will you do with your master?" I asked him. "What will you do with your fellows?"

He bared his teeth. "I will use my power on them, and they will turn against each other!" he cried gleefully. "Once they see that I can make them tear each other apart, then they will worship me and follow my orders!"

I heard a furious flapping of what sounded like large wings outside the shack. Wrath whipped his head around and peered through the large hole he had made. He growled and looked at me. "Looks like I have my first customer," he said.

I had the presence of mind to pretend to look terrified of him. I was afraid, a little. I didn't know if his power would work on Stormageddon, but I was almost sure it would work on Greed. But could Greed convince Wrath, using his own power, that Wrath needed him alive? I was about to find out.

There was a loud crunch, and half of one wall fell in. I was glad that the shack itself seemed to be well built, for all that it looked like it was rotting away. Otherwise I would have had to deal with it falling down on me.

The crunch, of course, had come from Stormageddon attempting to kick the door down. He had missed the door itself and hit the door frame. I realized as I saw the shack shift and shake that I had thought too soon that I was safe from it falling. I had to get out of the chair and out of the shack.

Greed stepped into the shack and looked from me to Wrath, and back. He nodded at me once, and turned back to his fellow homunculus.

"Well, Wrath, I can't say it's good to see you," he said casually.

"Don't try your tricks on me, Avarice," said Wrath. "We both know I'm the more powerful one."

"Are you indeed?" asked Greed, raising an eyebrow. "When did you get a taste for power then? We both know you're not clever enough to hold onto power for long."

Wrath's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that a challenge?" he growled.

Greed raised his eyebrows and hands. "I wouldn't dream of challenging you," he said. "I mean, as far as brains go, I've got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength..." His sentence trailed off and he shrugged. "I'm afraid I didn't get that aspect from the Master."

Wrath smirked. "That's right, I'm stronger than you," he said. "Don't you forget it."

"But there are others still stronger than you, Wrath," said Greed timidly. I couldn't help but be impressed at how well he was playing his part to get Wrath to be greedy.

Wrath wasn't having it. "There are no others!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the wall.

The shack shuddered again, and I knew that I had to get out quickly. The ropes holding me to the chair were too tight, but I could feel them moving, along with a hot breath on my hands. I stayed still. Wrath hadn't noticed Stormageddon. How was that possible? I stayed still though. I didn't want to draw his attention.

"Well, actually," said Greed, smiling somewhat sheepishly and holding up a finger. "There are others more powerful than you. Did you know, for instance, that we were replaced on Olympus?"

Wrath blinked. "Olympus?" he asked stupidly.

"Yes, Olympus," said Greed impatiently. "I knew you were slow, but I didn't know that you were able to forget who you used to be!"

Wrath cocked his head like a dog. "I'm confused," he said. "Haven't I always been Wrath?"

Greed hung his head in exasperation. "You were a god!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "You were Ares! You... you were the master of war! Don't you remember that?"

Wrath sat down heavily. He clearly hadn't expected this. "I was a god?"

Greed nodded, his eyes wide. "Yes!" he said. "And we were replaced on Olympus!"

Wrath still didn't seem to get it. "What do you mean we were replaced?" he asked. "Were... were you a god too?" Greed nodded. "And the rest, were they all gods?"

"Yes," said Greed, glad to see that he was finally getting somewhere.

"Why am I no longer a god?" asked Wrath. "Why am I just this thing that's angry all the time?"

Greed smiled. "You were chosen," he said. "The Master chose you for your love of war. He effectively demoted you to be his general, when you used to be the commander in chief!"

Wrath was beginning to become angry again. There was flicker of fire in his eyes. "And I have been replaced on Olympus," he said slowly. "So there is another Ares there that took my throne."

"That's right," said Greed. "That one, at the very least, is one who is more powerful than you."

Wrath shook his head. "No," he said, standing up. "That can not be true." The fire in his eyes was now burning brightly. "I will bring our Master to his knees, and then I will challenge this new Ares. He will know my power before long!"

I finally felt the ropes fall from my hands. I was about to leap up, but I heard Stormageddon whisper in my ear. "Stay still a moment longer, my dear," he breathed, so only I could hear. "I will get you out of here. I promise."

I was so terrified that the shack would collapse at any moment, but I trusted Stormageddon with my life. I stayed still, and grabbed the ropes behind me for good measure.

Greed looked at me, and counted on his fingers behind his back so I could see. When he got to three, I jumped up, still holding the rope that was tied to the chair with one hand.

Wrath looked at me, surprised to see me up. I didn't give him a chance to react. I swung my arms around, bringing the chair with them. It hit him full force in the side of the head and brought him to the ground.

I didn't hesitate. I grabbed Greed and felt back for Stormageddon's mane. My fingers clutched hair and I leaped onto his back. I didn't realize I was so strong. We ducked out of the shack just in time.

I heard a series of loud crashes behind me, and I turned my head around to see the shack finally give way under its own weight.

"Well done," said Greed in my ear. "Not many people can get the jump on Wrath. It was lucky I had him distracted for you."

"How did he notice Stormageddon?" I asked, as the Pegasus unfurled his wings and took off into the air.

I could almost hear Greed's smile widen. "Take a look," he said. "Can you see him?"

I looked down to my hands, and realized that they appeared to be wrapped around nothing. I knew I was holding Stormageddon's mane though. I twisted my hand. "You made all of him disappear!" I exclaimed.

"That's right," he said. "But now is not the time we need to be in. We are needed by someone else most desperately."

There was a note in Greed's voice that I had never heard before. "Greed," I said in surprise. "Are you actually thinking of someone's needs besides your own?"

"Don't hold your breath," he said. "Seriously, don't. We're going into some place more dangerous than any you've seen yet." I blinked, and all of a sudden we were hovering outside a very tall building that seemed to be completely covered in glass.

"What is this place?" I asked Greed.

"It's the headquarters for Microsoft," he said. "It's a place I know well, because it's the brainchild of someone who has made a lot of money off of it, and other people have made a lot of money off it as well by investing in it."

"Why are we here?" asked Stormageddon, who I noticed was now visible again.

"Did you notice that Wrath was alone, and remained alone, the whole time at that shack?" asked Greed. "This is where the rest of them are. Along with their Master."

I swallowed. "And we're going to try to bring them together here?" I asked. "But how many people are in there?"

Greed shook his head. "More than I can think about right now," he said. "But that's not the point, because we're not here to fight them. We're here to save someone. Save several someones, actually."

"Who?" I asked.

"The Master's greatest enemy, along with a couple of his companions," he said. "They're in trouble right now, or my name isn't synonymous with Avarice."

I nodded. "How do we get in?"

Greed pointed over my shoulder at the roof of the building. "The Master and his enemy's companions are on the top floor, so we need to enter through the roof to get to them." Stormageddon flapped hard, and in seconds we had come to a surprisingly soft landing on the roof.

There was a doorway in the corner, presumably leading to stairs. We headed towards it, but Greed stopped Stormageddon.

"Get out of my way," snapped Stormageddon.

Greed shook his head. "You can't come into the building," he said. "There are too many normal people, and they would just freak out at the sight of you. You're also a bit too large to avoid causing some noise and damage, even if you're invisible."

Stormageddon looked at me. I shrugged. "He's got a point," I said. "I don't like it, but the corridors in there are probably too narrow for you to pass through, especially with your wings."

"I'll tell you what," said Greed. "Hover on this side of the building, at around the fifth floor, in twenty to twenty five minutes. We'll be coming to meet you. If we're not there in thirty minutes, come back up to the roof. If we're not here after about forty five minutes to an hour, leave. We'll find you."

Stormageddon looked back at me. "I still don't trust him," he muttered, but he came close to nuzzle my face.

"We'll be okay," I said. "Take care of yourself, and be sure to be where he said, when he said."

Stormageddon nickered softly, and I patted him on the head.

"Are you done yet?" asked Greed impatiently.

Defiantly, I planted a kiss on Stormageddon's nose just to make Greed madder.

"Come on," he said, and I followed him to the door. Here we go, I thought.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 10

Rescued?

The Doctor had sat at the desk for some time, making a rubber band ball out of some rubber bands he had found in a drawer. He had made it quite sizable, and nearly used all of the rubber bands he had found before looked back at the progress bar. It was still only 68 per cent complete.

"Ugh," he said grumpily. "I hate when time moves like this. Slowly, and in the right order." He leaned back and tossed the rubber band ball up in the air and caught it. He did this two or three times before it got caught again, but it wasn't by his hand.

The hand that caught it darted into his vision quickly and snagged the ball just after it had reached the apex of its arc. The hand was delicate, with thin fingers, and long fingernails that were painted a deep shade of crimson. The fingernails themselves were pointy, as though they had been filed into claws.

"Hello there," said the Doctor, turning around in the chair. He liked the chair. It had wheels and it swiveled. Rolly, swivelly chairs were cool. "John Smith, Health and Safety," he said, but then he saw the face that the hand belonged to. "But you know that's not true," he said slowly. "You don't care about anyone's health or safety. You murdered a pizza boy just because he was there."

Lust smiled. "You have me at a disadvantage, Doctor," she said. "You know my past misdeeds, but I don't know any of yours. Come on," she said in an enticing voice. She leaned forward, exposing her ample cleavage. "Tell me how you've been a bad boy."

The Doctor's face was hardened. He wasn't going to say anything to her, no matter what she looked like. "You can't use your feminine wiles with me, Lust," he said in a low voice. "I have a wife. Well, I've had several wives. Well, they were all at different times, and they never lived during the same period of time. Queen Elizabeth now..." but he trailed off. "I'm sorry, listen to me go on about my past. You were saying something about having me trapped here?"

Lust raised her eyebrows. "I don't think I said anything of the sort," she said. "Although yes, we do have you trapped here." She looked over his shoulders, to his left, then his right. "We have you surrounded, in fact."

The Doctor didn't look concerned. "And what about my friends?" he asked. "I assume that your Master took the shape of Mr. Gates?"

Lust smiled at him. "You're too clever for your own good sometimes, Doctor," she said. "Yes, you are right, of course. Bill Gates rarely ever comes to the headquarters. When he works, he works from home. Just to ensure he wouldn't interfere today though by actually showing up, our friend Sloth was sent to keep an eye on him."

The Doctor frowned. "Do you think your friend Sloth can lay a finger on Bill Gates, the richest man on Earth?" he asked.

Lust smirked. "Sloth doesn't have to," she said. "Sloth just happens to be Mr. Gates's head of security. Fortunately, nobody thinks that attacking the richest man on Earth is a wise decision, because that would mean Sloth having to actually work. He ever so hates work, you know."

The Doctor was close to sneering, which was very unlike him. "You didn't answer my question," he said.

"Oh yes," said Lust. "Your friends. Yes, they are with my Master. They are quite safe as long as you don't try anything stupid."

The Doctor smirked. "You really don't know me, do you?" he asked. "Because 'try anything stupid' is my middle name!" he shouted, leaping out of the chair and pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

He had kept one eye on the progress bar on the computer during his chat with Lust, and it had finally uploaded the full program. The second it had done that, he made his move.

He aimed the sonic screwdriver at the fire alarm near the door. It instantly went off, blaring at a high volume. He then aimed the screwdriver at the sprinkler system, which apparently had a flood mode, as it immediately started spraying a large volume of water everywhere.

"Get him!" cried a voice. The Doctor realized that voice belonged to Envy.

The Doctor was not a person that intended to be gotten, of course. He snatched the flash drive out of the computer now that it had done its job, pushed his increasingly wet hair out of his eyes, and sprinted towards the stairwell. He bowled over Lust on his way there, and caught her claw nails on the cheek as he went by.

"Sorry!" he called back over his shoulder. "It's not you, it's me!"

He got to the stairwell and threw open the door. He knew that Martha and Sean would be upstairs, and the elevator would be shut down with the fire alarm going off. They would have to get out quickly to avoid the fire department and police when they showed up to respond to the alarm going off.

He couldn't think about that now though, as he had to get his friends back. He sprinted up the staircase, taking three steps at a time.

"I really do get a lot of cardio done," he said out loud, breathing heavily. "Who needs a personal trainer when you're always running for your life?"

After four or five more levels, he was near the top floor. As he reached the final landing before the stairs went up to the roof, the roof door opened, and in walked two people.

One of the people he had seen before, and one of them he knew of, but had never met.

"Hello, Greed," said the Doctor casually. "Hello, Pandora. It's a great pleasure and an honor to meet you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to save my friends."

"We're here to help," said Greed quickly. "Just tell us what we need to do."

The Doctor stopped and stared. He hadn't expected that. "What do you want in return?" he asked slowly.

Greed looked insulted. "It's always something, isn't it?" he asked in a hurt voice. "Can't a guy just want to help somebody out that needs it without having some ulterior motive?"

"Not if the guy is you," said the Doctor shortly. He made a quick decision. "Fine, you can help, just stay behind me and follow my lead." He walked through the door at the top floor, and Greed and Pandora followed close behind him.

Not far in front of him, still standing at the elevator, were Sean, Martha, and the Master.

The Doctor calmly walked forward. "Hello, dear," he said, and the Master looked up. He shook his head.

"Now, Doctor," he said. "I would have thought you knew better than to try something stupid like rescue your friends. You know what I have to do now." The Master smiled widely.

"No," said the Doctor. "That's not going to happen. I'm here, and I'm going to rescue my friends. Ready to go, chaps?" he said to Martha and Sean.

Martha nodded. "Absolutely," she said.

Sean gulped. He didn't know what the Doctor was playing at, but they were still standing right next to the Master, who could probably kill them without a second thought. He didn't know why Martha was so eager to die, and the Doctor was ready to let it happen. "Doctor," he said. "Go on, get out of here. You don't have to try to save me, I'll be fine."

The Doctor frowned. "Sean, has something gone wrong in your head?" he asked. "Of course I'm going to save you, and do you really think you'll be okay if I just walk away?" He nodded at the Master. "He won't care whether it hurts me or not that you die. It would be a plus for him if it did, of course, but me being apathetic about your death won't stop him from doing it."

The Master looked bored. "He's right, you know," he said to Sean. "You and Miss Jones here were both going to die anyway. By coming here, the Doctor only succeeded in quickening the process."

Before he knew what was happening, Sean felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw the handle of a dagger sticking out of his belly. He looked back up and saw the Master smiling at him.

Luckily, Martha thought a little more quickly than he did. He saw a dark fist swim quickly into his slowly clouding vision and strike the Master at his temple. The last thing Sean remembered was seeing the Master fall to the ground as he himself went to his knees and collapsed. Then everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 11

Calling the Cavalry

I watched the young man fall to the ground after the dark girl struck the Master in the face. It felt odd, because I knew I had seen the young man before.

"Sean!" said the dark girl, leaning over the young man's prone form. Blood was seeping slowly out of where he had been stabbed with the knife, but I knew it would start pouring it out if we tried to remove it.

The dark girl looked at the man who called himself the Doctor. "Doctor, we have to get him to the TARDIS, now!" she cried.

"Let me help," said Greed. "I can take you to your ship instantly." He offered up his arm.

The Doctor looked at him, and I could tell that he was having trouble making a decision.

"Doctor, there's no time!" said the dark girl. I think her name was Martha.

I interjected. "It's okay, Doctor," I said. "You can trust him for now."

The Doctor looked at me hard. "I hope you're right," he said in a low voice. He grabbed Greed's arm and they vanished.

I swallowed. I hoped I was right too.

It was a matter of a few seconds, and I heard a strange whooshing sound. It sounded like something breathing heavily. Before I knew it, the room around me was fading out, and a much bigger room was fading in around us.

I looked around in wonder. It was so big and colorful, and there was a large central display of all sorts of buttons and knobs and switches. I had no idea what any of them did.

The Doctor's voice sounded behind me. "Let's go, Martha," he said. "Let's get him up here." He was rolling in a platform on wheels that looked large enough to support a person. Greed was close behind him. I moved aside quickly to let them by.

Martha stood next to Sean, the young man, seemingly ready to pick him up. She grabbed his shoulders, and the Doctor grabbed his feet. "One, two, three!" he counted, and they hauled him up carefully onto the platform.

It was then that I realized where I had seen this young man before. It had been when I first woke up in that strange place with the solid black rivers. He had been lying on the ground next to me.

I didn't make any noise of recognition. There would hopefully a chance to find out later what he had been doing there, but now was not the time.

"We need to get the knife out of him," said Martha. "But be ready to apply pressure, and we'll have to stitch up the wound as quickly as we can."

The Doctor nodded. His face was white with anxiety. He pulled open a drawer on the side of the platform and pulled out a white sheet, along with what looked like a small silver needle and some thread.

I swallowed. I wished there was something I could do. I didn't know any of these people, but I inherently trusted them more than I trusted Greed. I looked at him now, and he was motioning me away from the pair that were tending to the wounded man.

I walked over to him. I opened my mouth to ask him what he wanted when I was interrupted by a loud cry from the table behind me.

"He's conscious, Doctor!" said Martha.

"I can see that!" the Doctor said back.

I couldn't help but look back. Sean's eyes were wide open, and he was staring at the wound in his stomach. His mouth was open in a silent scream.

The Doctor went to another drawer on the side of the table and pulled out a vial of a clear liquid and a large thing that looked like a torture device. I could see that it had a clear empty container in it, and the Doctor used the device to draw some of the clear liquid from the vial into its own container. He went to Sean's side and stuck the sharp end into a spot near his neck. After a few seconds, Sean's eyes closed again and his body relaxed.

I couldn't watch while they tried to draw the blade out. I turned back to Greed, who was looking at me anxiously.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Your steed," he said. "The Pegasus is waiting for us."

My eyes went wide. "Stormageddon!" I cried.

I heard the Doctor's voice. "Wait, what?" he said. "Where's Alfie? Is Craig around?"

I ignored him. "Can you go get him?" I asked Greed.

He shook his head. "It's too late," he said. "He's been captured by the others."

I stepped back from him. "No," I said. "You're wrong. He wouldn't let himself be captured. He's still waiting outside the fifth floor, you'll see." I turned myself around, trying to find the door inside the mess that was the room I was in.

"Stop her now, Greed," said the Doctor, who was presumably still busy in saving Sean's life. I didn't want to look at them, but my eye was drawn to what they were doing.

The Doctor had his hands on the sheet that were pressing against Sean's stomach. The sheet, which had previously been white, was now deep crimson. I nearly gagged at the sight of that much blood.

"Greed, take her down the hall and to the left," said the Doctor. "Make her lie down, and she is not to leave this ship!"

I couldn't argue as Greed took me by both arms and walked me in the directions the Doctor had given him. I was too busy being worried about Stormageddon, and about the young man lying on the table. How could someone lose that much blood and still be alive?

When Greed led me to the room and sat me down on the bed, I looked up at him. "Will he be all right?" I wasn't sure myself who I was asking about, Sean or Stormageddon.

Greed pursed his lips. "I'm sure Sean will be okay," he said. "He's in the hands of two very good doctors." He looked away. "As for Stormageddon... I'm sorry."

I couldn't help myself now. I laid down on the bed and began to cry. That was the first time Greed had actually used my friend's name. He wouldn't have done that if he hadn't been serious. So Stormageddon must be lost.

It was a while before I realized that Greed had left me to go back to the other two. I wiped my eyes and sat up.

At that moment, the Doctor walked in, wiping his hands dry with a towel. He sat down in a chair opposite me. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Doctor?" I asked. "How is he?"

"He'll live," he said shortly. "Martha managed to stitch him up, and I've got him on an IV drip, and we'll be able to replenish his blood."

I didn't know what an IV was, but I was sure that it would be to Sean's benefit. "When will he be up and about again?" I asked.

The Doctor shrugged, and looked up for the first time. "That's hard to say," he said. "It depends on how much of a fighter Sean is. He will heal, it's just a matter of time." He looked at me very seriously now. "I heard you talking about Stormageddon. I knew someone that called himself that once. He was a baby. His real name was Alfie, and he started going by that eventually. I'm sure we're not talking about the same person though."

I shook my head sadly. "No," I said. "The Stormageddon I know is a Pegasus." At this the Doctor's eyes widened. "I have been traveling with him for quite some time now, and he's been a very good friend."

The Doctor nodded. "I think it's wonderful to travel with a good friend," he said. "I myself have traveled with many good friends, and Martha Jones is not the least of them." He hesitated. "Greed has, ah, filled me in on the situation with your friend Stormageddon. It seems that after I escaped the homunculi on the fifth floor, they spotted him out the window and went for him. Do you have any idea where they might have taken him?"

I thought for a moment, then was struck by what he had said. "Do you mean to say that they didn't kill him outright?" I asked.

"No, of course not," said the Doctor. "They've captured him and taken him somewhere, but where would they go?"

I wasn't sure. The only place I could think of was Olympus, but I didn't know why they would go there, unless...

I jumped up. "Wrath!" I cried. "Greed and I were trying to trick Wrath into turning against the others and the Master, and he said that the new Ares was stronger than him!"

The Doctor began to grow terrified. "You don't mean that they've gone to Olympus now, do you?" he asked.

I nodded. "If they've found Wrath, they'll want to take out all of the gods that replaced them," I said. "I'm sure of it."

The Doctor nodded. "In that case, we have to get their first and warn the gods," he said. "It so happens that I know one of them personally. I traveled with him for a time."

It was then that I remembered. "You mean Zeus, don't you?" I asked in awe. "You traveled with Zeus when he was Captain Jack Harkness! You're the higher authority that he told me about!"

"Oh, you've met Jack, have you?" asked the Doctor, smiling. "That's brilliant! Did you meet any of the others?"

I nodded. "Yes," I said. "I met Athena. She is wiser than the legends say she is."

"Ah, now her story is quite a thrilling tale," said the Doctor. "She and her friends Harry and Ron got into quite of trouble over their seven years at school. She may have even mentioned it to you."

I nodded. "Harry was the boy on the cover of the book," I said. "Wasn't he?"

"Harry Potter?" asked Martha, coming in now. "Are you saying Hermione Granger is the goddess Athena now?" She was looking very skeptical at all this.

"You know her too?" I asked Martha.

"Not personally, no," she said. "I read the books about Harry Potter though. We even used one of the spells to help William Shakespeare beat a coven of witches some years ago." She looked at the Doctor. "Are you saying that Harry Potter and his friends are actually real? Like they don't just exist in my head? Not just them, but the Greek gods too?"

The Doctor grinned at her. "Well, of course they exist in your head, Martha Jones, but why ever should that mean they can't be real?"

Martha reached over to the bed, picked up the pillow, and threw it at the Doctor. "Thanks for that, Doctor Dumbledore," she said, fighting to keep a straight face and failing. He grinned back at her.

"Let's go save the gods!" he said.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 12

To Save a God Complex

"I just don't understand it, Doctor," Martha was saying. "You've known the Master for millennia. When has he ever just stabbed someone to kill him before?"

"Never in all my lives have I seen him just stab someone to kill him," said the Doctor, rubbing his face tiredly. "He always tries to make it much more played out, or at least a bit more technological than simple blade. That makes me think there are one of two possibilities. Possibility one, the act of removing the sins from himself had more of an effect on him than we originally thought. Possibility two, he wasn't intending to kill Sean at all."

"There's a third possibility, Doctor," said Martha. "The blade that the Doctor used wasn't simple at all."

The Doctor sat up. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that maybe the stab was a red herring of some kind. The Master knew there was a possibility of saving Sean, despite what a large loss of blood it would be. I imagine that the Master has good enough aim so as to hit an organ that would cause internal bleeding, and we know from the basic TARDIS medical scan that we can rule that out."

"That's what I mean when I say that he didn't mean to kill him," said the Doctor slowly. "But you're saying that the blade itself may have been poisoned or something?"

Martha nodded. "It's possible," she said. "We still have the blade, so we can scan it, and have the TARDIS analyze a blood sample from Sean as well, just to be sure."

The Doctor nodded. "I'll get right on it," he said. He ran back to the console room.

Martha sighed and rubbed her eyes. She hadn't slept yet in a while. Even though they could have jumped to Olympus immediately, Pandora had said they should climb up first to make sure it was okay. The Doctor had insisted that since he knew Captain Jack personally, and as such would be welcomed with open arms once the Captain heard the TARDIS materialize. Pandora, however, wouldn't have it. Martha hadn't expected her to be so spiritual when it came to her gods.

So, the TARDIS had landed at the foot of the mountain, not far from where Greed had killed a wild pig for Pandora's supper long ago. Pandora had volunteered herself and Greed to climb the mountain to greet the gods and ask permission for the TARDIS to land in the main courtyard of the gods.

That had been two days ago. Martha thought surely that they would be back by now, although she knew perceptions were not always reality. The spaceship she was in now was proof of that. The mountain itself may be much taller than it looked.

Martha looked at Sean. They had been keeping in his quarters close to the console room. He hadn't stirred much since the surgery. He had opened his eyes once and taken a bit of soft food and water. He seemed so weak as he was, and she wished that she could do more. But as a doctor herself, she knew what he needed most right now was rest and time to recover.

The Doctor rushed back into the room quickly, suddenly frantic.

Martha leaped up instantly. "What is it, Doctor?" she asked.

"It's the blade," said the Doctor. "It's not there!"

Martha thought quickly. "Greed might have taken it with them just in case of... something," she finished lamely. She looked up at the Doctor. "We have to get up that mountain, whether it insults the gods or not. Their lives could be in danger!"

The Doctor nodded, and moments later, they were back in the main control room, and the time machine did its usual shaking and whining. When the Doctor ran to the door and opened it with Martha close behind him, she realized that she did miss being on this ship with him from time to time.

They stepped out into a massive courtyard that had enormous temples and buildings surrounding the perimeter. Martha wished she could take the time to visit each one, particularly the temple of Athena, which had the expected statue of an owl, but also had a statue of a very large bandy legged cat, colored ginger, and had a squashed face. Martha chuckled a bit. It seemed that what the Doctor had said was true, and Hermione Granger had become Athena.

Still, she knew there wasn't time to deal with taking a tour of the mountain of the gods. They had to find out where Pandora and Greed had gone and save them, along with the gods themselves.

"I imagine that they'll be down there," said the Doctor, pointing to the far end of the courtyard.

Martha looked and saw the largest palace she had ever seen in her life. She snorted.

"It figures that Jack would have the biggest one," she said, and snorted again at her Freudian slip. "Not to mention that it makes sense that he is Zeus, considering both his and Zeus' historical reputation."

The Doctor grinned at her. "Let's go," he said, and they took off running towards the great palace.

Even while running, Martha couldn't help but glance left and right at each of the palaces that belonged to the gods. They passed up one on their left that had statues of large weapons, which she knew must belong to Ares. She stared long at one that had a statue of someone that had wings. She didn't look away from it, or blink at all until she had past it. She knew it must belong to Hermes, but she didn't want to take any chances on the statue being a weeping angel.

There was another palace on the left that seemed to be made out of obsidian that she assumed must belong to Hades, but oddly had some red and gold trim, and had one large statue at the entrance that resembled a circle encased in a triangle, with one line bisecting it down the middle. Martha tried to remember where she had seen it before, but couldn't place it.

The last palace they passed on their right was bright blue, and Martha realized it was made completely of glass, and the glass was filled with water. That had to be Poseidon's palace.

Martha and the Doctor finally reached the steps to Zeus' palace and rushed up. She felt almost like Rocky when she reached the top, like she should be pumping her arms up and down and punching the air. But there was no time for pretending she was in Philadelphia, as the Doctor was running straight toward a small door in the center of the much larger door that dominated the front of the palace.

He stopped as he reached the door and pulled out his sonic screwdriver to scan the door.

"What is it Doctor?" Martha asked him, breathing hard.

"There are three life forms inside," said the Doctor. "One human, one homunculi, and one... well, that has to be the captain," he said. "Let's hurry."

They opened the door and stepped in.

They were in a vast room that seemed to be even larger than the courtyard they had come from. There was a tiny throne on the other side, set on a dais. There was a figure sitting in it, and another one standing behind the throne. "Don't take another step, Doctor," called a voice, presumably the person behind the throne.

"And why shouldn't I, Greed?" asked the Doctor.

"Because I am now holding Zeus, or as you know him, your friend Captain Jack Harkness, hostage. I have the knife that the Master used on your young friend to the captain's throat."

Martha looked at the Doctor. He waved her down, knowing what she was thinking: Jack couldn't die. "Okay", he called out. "I won't come any closer. Where is Pandora?"

"She is unconscious at the moment," said Greed. "She helped me to realize, while were speaking with Wrath, that the gods were still more powerful than we were as homunculi. I decided I wanted to be the king of the gods. Ergo, I ensured that we would end up here, in this position."

"Jack!" called out Martha. "Are you okay?"

"Is that Miss Martha Jones?" called a voice very familiar to her, except it now carried a different kind of weight to it. "Thanks for visiting, but how come you never respond to my letters or booty calls?"

Martha rolled her eyes. Yes, Jack was all right, and the same as ever. "You should try asking my husband!" she called back. "I think he intercepts them before letting me read them."

"Ha ha!" laughed the god captain. "Little Mickey Mouse is jealous of me. Who'd have thought it!"

There was an audible sigh, which was impressive, given the size of the room. Greed was clearly not amused or impressed by their banter. "Your banter does not impress or amuse me," he said. "Now, I claim my new kingdom!"

There was a slicing sound, and the figure on the throne crumpled to the ground in front of the dais. Without waiting for any response, the figure behind the throne came around it and sat down. "You may come forward now, Doctor." he called.

The Doctor and Martha rushed forward. It was clear to them that the captain wasn't moving as they drew nearer, and there was blood around his neck. There was no wound though, and they knew that their friend would be all right. Greed wasn't to know that yet though.

Martha, choking back fake tears, stumbled to the ground next to Jack and put her hands where the wound had been in a feigned effort to stop bleeding that was no longer happening. She felt a strong pulse in his neck.

"Oh, there's no point in doing that," said Greed in a bored voice. "I slit his throat. He was dead before he hit the ground."

"But we didn't come any closer until you said to!" said the Doctor in mock rage. "You didn't have to kill him! We were doing what you told!"

Greed laughed. "Of course I didn't have to, Doctor," he said, chuckling. "I wanted to! I told you already. I'm Greed, and that means I want everything. Money, power, women! And as king of the gods, as Zeus, I can have everything."

"But you can't kill a god with just a simple blade," said the Doctor. "That's not possible. The gods are immortal."

"Is that so?" asked Greed, raising an eyebrow. "I suggest you take a closer look at the blade, then. You will find it is not so simple." He revealed the knife that they had pulled out of Sean's stomach just two days ago, and had now cut Jack's throat open.

The Doctor caught the knife deftly and peered at it. "Ah yes," he said. "I see."

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Martha, her hands still at Jack's throat.

"There are runes on this knife, Martha," he said. "They're in Old High Galifreyan."

"What do they say?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It's not what they say that's the problem," he replied. "It's what they're meant for. It's what they're meant to do." He looked at her darkly. "This knife is meant to kill that which can not be killed by normal means. It can kill immortal beings, like gods."

Martha's eyes widened. She still felt a pulse in Jack, and it was as strong as ever. She could feel him breathing. She looked at the Doctor, trying to tell him this wordlessly. "What about regular people?" she asked. "What about Sean?"

"It works on regular people like any normal blade would," said the Doctor. "Sean is safe from its effects." He looked at Greed. "But that's not it," he said. "That's not all these runes mean."

"What else is there?" asked Martha.

The Doctor smiled, and it was grim. "It means that whoever kills a god with this blade will take that god's place, and become immortal themselves," he said.

Greed smirked. "And, since I just killed your friend, who was a god, I am now a god," he said. "I am Zeus, the mighty king of the gods!"

"Oh, but you've failed to see something very important, Greed," said the Doctor. "You've missed something absolutely crucial."

Greed raised his eyebrows. "And what would that be, Doctor?" he asked.

"You're a god now, correct?" asked the Doctor, and Martha could tell he was playing for time. She didn't know what it was for though.

"Yes, that's right," said Greed, exasperated. "I'm the king of the gods now, that's what I've been saying!"

"Well, then Greed," said the Doctor slowly. "Why did you give me the knife?"

"Why did I what?" asked Greed, and then his eyes widened. "Oh, dear," he said. "But you wouldn't do something like that, Doctor. You don't kill, you haven't killed, never! The Master told us so!"

The Doctor smiled grimly. "I don't use guns, that much is true," he said. "But this isn't a gun, now is it?"

Greed swallowed, and shook his head slowly. "But you wouldn't kill an unarmed man, would you?" He held out his hands to show they were empty. "You wouldn't do that!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "You've just killed a friend of mine," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "What did you expect I was going to do once you gave me the knife, just look at it and give it back to you?"

Greed was visibly terrified now. He was shaking.

"So the question that remains now, Greed," said the Doctor. "Is whether I want to become a god or not. It would certainly help me out considerably, giving me more powers than I have ever dreamt of. The lightning in particular would come in handy." He fingered the knife in his hand. "I have a bit of a god complex myself, you see. I love saving people. I'm the Doctor, and I save people, that's what I do. Being a god would help me save everyone." He raised the knife and stepped towards Greed. "I just need to bring this knife down and I can save everyone. All it would cost is one miserable life."

Suddenly, a voice shouted from behind them. "Expelliarmus!" The knife flew out of the Doctor's hand and back over their heads.

Martha tracked the knife's path with her eyes, and her mouth fell open when she saw the hand it had fallen in.

"Harry Potter?" she whispered.

It was indeed. The bespectacled man that stood there with the lightning scar on his forehead was most definitely the boy who lived, and there were three people around him. Two of them were his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The third was Pandora, who must have run to Athena, or, rather, Hermione, when she realized what Greed intended to do after waking up. Hermione had gotten her friends, Ron and Harry, who was, of course Hades. The Golden Trio now had their wands trained on the Doctor. Or was it Greed they were pointing at?

Then Martha realized where she had seen the symbol in front of Hades' palace. It was the mark of the Deathly Hallows. She would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious. Harry Potter was the perfect choice to replace Hades. She wasn't sure why Ron was there though.

"Stop now," said Harry. "You can't kill him."

"Oh come on, Potter!" shouted the Doctor. "I was never going to kill him, you should know me better than that!" He stepped down from the dais where Greed was letting out a sigh of relief, and starting to get up.

"No!" shouted Hermione.

"Incarcerous!" cried Ron, and ropes flew out of his wand to bind the homunculi. Greed fell to the ground next to Jack, just below the dais.

Jack finally sat up, taking a deep gasping breath. "I really hate doing that, you know, Doctor," he said, standing up. "Hello, Martha Jones. I knew you couldn't wait to get your hands on me."

She laughed and gave him a hug. He flashed his trademark smile at the Doctor and went to sit down on his throne.

"How is this possible?" cried Greed from the ground. "I slit your throat!"

"Oh, did I not mention?" asked the Doctor. "Jack was immortal before he was a god. You also don't even need a special knife to kill a god. They can be killed just like any mortal, they just can't die of natural causes."

"And you weren't going to kill me?" asked Greed.

"Heavens, no!" said the Doctor. "Who do you think I am, the Master?"

"So let me get this straight," said Greed. "I'm not a god at all."

"

That's right, buddy," said Jack, leaning forward to pat him on the shoulder. "Nice try, but you can't keep a good god down." He looked up at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Thanks for coming when I called, guys. It was getting boring listening to these two talk."

Hermione grinned at him. "Of course, we have to save you from a lecture," she said. "That's what I'm here for." She looked around. "Did you just call the three of us? Where are Hera, Ares, Aphrodite, and Poseidon?"

Jack shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said. "I can't even remember what Hera looks like anymore, I see her so little."

Martha shook her head and looked at Jack. "Wait, you called the three of them here?" she asked, and looked at Pandora. "Greed said he knocked you unconscious. I thought you had gone to get them for help."

Pandora nodded. "When I woke up, I knew I had to get help, so I went straight to Athena's palace, because I had met her here before. I remembered her. She was already on her way here with these two, and we met halfway. I don't remember these two," she said, indicating Harry and Ron. "But apparently they remember me. I helped make them into who they are now."

Martha looked at the trio. "So Hermione's Athena," she said, pointing at the young woman. "Harry, are you Hades?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "It was because I'm so familiar with death, if I remember right. It comes with the territory of having actually died. It also helped that I was able to tame a big three headed dog when I was eleven," he said.

Jack laughed. "Yeah, I remember thinking I could just as well have been Hades, having died so many times myself."

Martha ignored this, and turned to Ron. "So who are you supposed to be?" she asked.

"I'm Ron Weasley of course," he said with a slight smile. "What, you haven't heard of me? I'm extremely famous. Ouch!" he said, as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

"You know what she means, Ronald," she said.

"That hurt, woman!" he muttered under his breath, but looked back at Martha. "I guess this will help you figure it out," he said. He raised his wand and conjured a simple goblet. Martha raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"I know you're a wizard," she said.

"I haven't gotten to the best part, though," he said. He raised his other hand above the goblet, and out of his palm poured a red liquid. He filled the goblet and handed it to her. "Go on," he said. "Drink it. It's great!"

Martha smelled it, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Wine?" she said, and sipped it. "You're right, this is good!" She peered at him. "Are you Dionysus then?"

Ron grinned at her. "That's right," he said. "I throw the best parties this side of the veil. Fred throws the best parties on the other side." He tried to crack a smile at this, but it seemed forced. Martha could tell it still hurt to talk about his dead brother, even if what he said would have had the brother rolling with laughter.

"Not to stop the lovely bit of exposition we're having, but can we move on?" asked the Doctor. "

Captain, you called the other four as well, correct?"

Jack nodded. "That's right," he said. "I'm not sure what's taking them so long. It's like I'm not getting through."

"Well, in that case, we had better go check on them," said the Doctor, clapping his hands together.

"What should we do with this one?" asked Jack, nudging Greed with his foot.

"I've got it," said Hermione, raising her wand. "Levicorpus!" she said, and Greed was hoisted in the air to hang upside down, as though an invisible hook were attached to his ankles.

"You'll be comfortable there, right Greed?" asked Ron.

Greed started to say something insulting, but Ron conjured a sock from thin air and stuffed it into Greed's mouth.

"Oy, we won't be having any mouth out of you," he said.

Greed glared at him, and the effect was slightly enhanced by the fact that his face was beginning to turn purple.

"All right, we're ready to go," said Harry. "Poseidon first then?"

Jack nodded, and stood up to lead everyone out.

"Hang on a minute," said Harry, and pointed his wand at the blood on the ground. "Scourgify," he said, and suds and brushes appeared to clean the blood off the floor.

Jack grinned at him. "Thanks," he said. "I can't tell you many times I've slipped in my own blood. And I don't want anybody getting any bloody knees, if you know what I mean!" He winked at Martha.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Jack Harkness, you haven't changed a bit, have you?" she said, but she was smiling.

"Never could," he said, smiling his trademark roguish grin. "Come on, then." And he led them out of the palace.

"Jack," said Martha. "What about Gwen? Is she running Torchwood on her own?"

Jack sighed. "I look in on her every now and again," he said. "She and Rhys are raising their two children. She's got enough on her plate without having to deal with Torchwood."

Martha's brow furrowed. "So... that's it?" she asked. "Is Torchwood done?"

Jack nodded. "Officially, yes," he said. "It just wasn't the same after Sarah Jane passed away. Luke volunteered to help out, along with Clive, but I don't think their hearts were in it. They just wanted to keep doing what she did. I think what they need is to be kids for once in their lives." He laughed a little. "Considering how Luke came to be, he's actually never been just a kid. Clive will help him with that." He looked at Martha. "I monitor things, like the rift, from here, but if something big comes up, I usually try to notify this guy." He nodded at the Doctor. "Though with these three and the other gods, we're usually able to handle anything that happens."

They had reached the palace of Poseidon. Martha had to marvel at it again. It was like the whole building was made of an aquarium.

Harry shuddered. "I don't like coming in here," he said. "It makes me think of the lake at school, and the merpeople, and... " he trailed off, looking at Ron and Hermione.

Ron laughed. "Oh, it's you and your saving people thing, Harry," he said. At Pandora's confused look, he went on. "In our fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry was chosen as school champion and had to complete some tasks. One of the tasks was to save me from the bottom of the lake. He took it to mean that I would die if he didn't save me. Unfortunately, the other champions also had people to save. One of them was a girl he had a crush on, one was the sister of another champion, and the other was Hermione here."

Hermione took over. "Harry wouldn't leave without making sure all of the hostages got out, even though they weren't his own to save." She smiled at her friend warmly. "He's always been the one with a hero complex. He always has to save people, because he usually feels like he gets people into the dangerous situations that they need saving from."

Harry butted in. "But I do," he said. "If I didn't attract so much trouble, you wouldn't -"

Hermione cut in. "We wouldn't follow you into it," she said. "We know, Harry. We'll always follow you, just like you and Ron followed me when I was chosen for this."

Martha smiled inwardly. She had read conversations like this in her books, which she treasured. She had never expected to actually meet her favorite characters, Hermione especially.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jack were walking ahead of them. "This whole palace is a big maze," said Jack. "Steve, Poseidon that is, makes it a puzzle to find the throne room, and then find your way out again. You have to follow the signs that spell out his former crew members' names in the first letter of the sign."

"What if you don't remember his crew members' names?" asked Martha.

"That's what we bring Hermione for," Ron and Harry said together, and they both laughed.

Pandora and Martha looked confusedly at them. Hermione answered their questioning looks. "I read all about Steve Zissou before I became Athena. Steve Zissou is an oceanologist, and he was chosen to be Poseidon's successor. I know all about him and his crew."

"Well, help me out here, Hermione," said the Doctor. "Let's find our way to Steve's throne room."

Hermione laughed. "It's not really a throne room, Doctor," she said. "He's made it an extension of his research lab." She waved at the glass tanks all around them. These are all the creatures that he had in his old research lab when we found him to recruit him to be Poseidon."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "I like him already," he said. "He's fascinated by life of all kinds aquatic."

Harry grinned. "I call him Aquaman sometimes," he said.

"Who's Aquaman?" asked Pandora.

"I've been asking him that for ages," muttered Ron.

"He's a comic book character," said Harry. "I used to steal my cousin Dudley's comics when I lived on Privet Drive. He's a superhero who lives in the ocean and can talk to the fish. He even controls them from time to time."

Pandora laughed. "A well chosen nickname for the god of the sea," she said.

Hermione, meanwhile, had been making quick turns, left, left, right, left, right again. The rest of them almost had to work hard to keep up with her.

"We're here!" she exclaimed, obviously very pleased with herself.

Indeed they had arrived in the main lab. There were computers and machines all over the place, and there was a clear view of most of the major creatures that were in the palace.

"Oh my goodness," said Hermione. "Ron, Harry, look!" She beckoned them over to one particular tank.

"Blimey," said Ron.

"I can't believe it," agreed Harry.

"What is it?" asked Pandora.

Harry waved her over. "He's got a grindylow in here. We learned how to deal with these guys in our third year. A few of them almost drowned me in our fourth year."

"During the second task of the Triwizard Tournament," said Martha, nodding.

Harry looked at Martha, surprised.

"Come on, Potter," she said. "Even most Muggles have heard of you and your story."

"When you're all done gawking at the magical creatures, we need to remember why we're here," said the Doctor.

"Sorry, Doctor," said Harry, respectfully abashed. "Where exactly is our resident god of the sea?"

"Not here, apparently," said Jack.

Hermione was scanning the area with her wand, while the Doctor did the same with his sonic screwdriver. "There's no sign of any struggle," they said at the same time.

"I like you," said the Doctor, pointing at her and giggling. "You're clever."

Hermione grinned, and did a slight curtsy. "So he either wasn't here if and when the homunculi came, he went with them willingly, or the homunculi haven't been here, and he still isn't here."

"Oh, that narrows it down a lot," said Ron. "What now?"

Hermione glared at him. "You know, you could be a little more helpful," she said. "I'm the one that led us in here."

Ron shrugged and held up a hand. Wine sprang from it like a fountain. "Fancy a drink?" he asked.

Hermione fought to keep a straight face, but failed. "I knew it was either going to be that or chess," she muttered, smiling at her boyfriend.

Jack looked at the Doctor and shook his head. "We have to get them to stop with the word increasing banter," he said.

The Doctor looked up at the author from the computer screen where the word processor was. "Oy, you up there!" he called. "Let's move the plot along a bit, shall we?"

The author flitted his eyes left and right and looked down, abashed. "Sorry," he said. "I'll get back to it."

"Thank you," said Jack, and he looked at the others gathered around. "Shall we go to find Ares now? He's just next door."

They all agreed this was a good idea, so they followed Hermione as she led them out, using the plaques on each of the tanks.

When they got outside, they had a surprise waiting for them.

"Poseidon!" shrieked Hermione. "We were just looking for you?"

"Oh yeah?" said Steve Zissou. "What's going on? Why is he here?" he asked, pointing at Greed, who was still hovering upside down. He had passed out a while back. Apparently, homunculi weren't immune to blood rushing to their head as a way to go unconscious.

"We'll get to that later, Steve," said the Doctor. "Suffice it to say that he's not the only one. The other homunculi are coming for you, and they want to take over Olympus, this time for good!"

Steve frowned. "They already tried that, didn't they? And we were able to get them back in their box."

"Well, it was a box this time," said Pandora. "It was a jar the first time, but it broke."

"Never mind that, Pandora," said Steve. "I thought you got trapped in the box with them."

Pandora looked at the ground. "Well, someone else opened it," she said.

"Who was dumb enough to do that?" asked Steve.

"Now, Poseidon, don't say that!" said the Doctor. "The person that opened the box is now lying in recovery in the TARDIS. He was stabbed by the Master for helping us."

"Oh," said Steve. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's all right," said Martha fiercely, and she didn't sound like she forgave him for what he said.

"So the homunculi and the Master are back," said Steve. "So we just need to get them back in the box. Do we have the box?"

The Doctor nodded. "It's back in my box," he said. "We only have one small problem."

"What's that?" asked Steve.

"We don't know how to get them back into it," said the Doctor.

"Can't we just do the same thing we did last time?" asked Steve.

"Two problems with that," said Pandora. "One, last time I got trapped in the box with them. I don't want to go back in there. I want to live my life."

"And what's the second problem?"

Jack answered. "We can't remember how we got them in the box last time anyway."

"What?" asked Steve. "Why not?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "At this point, the author hasn't finished the end of that story, so he doesn't know how it happens himself."

Steve's jaw dropped. "He's doing everything out of order!" he said in shock. "Either he's a very bad writer, or he's a very good one."

"Too bad he can't get through any story without referencing himself in some way," said Jack.

"Yeah, he's almost as egotistical as you, Jack," said Martha, winking at him.

"Author, you're doing it again!" said the Doctor. "Plot, please!"

"I know," muttered the author. "I was doing so well. It's because I'm watching the telly at the same time."

"You're not even British," shouted Jack at the author. "You can't say the telly just because you want to be British!"

"I'm not!" shouted the author. "I said the telly because it uses one more word than just saying TV or television."

"Ugh," cried the Doctor. "Can we please get on with this story so whatever poor soul is reading this can find out what happens next?"

"Okay!" said the author out loud and feeling only slightly awkward about it. He was glad he was alone in the house.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 13

The Battle for War

The group that was actually part of the story turned back to each other. "Now then," said Hermione. "Let's go to Ares, and see if Wrath has gotten there to challenge him for god status yet."

"Who was Ares again?" asked Steve Zissou. "I don't remember that part."

"It's supposed to be Sun Tzu," said the Doctor. "Again, the author hadn't quite gotten there yet. He needs to finish that part. We had just gotten to ancient China and been interrupted by Wrath when he reached the fifty thousand words and stopped writing."

"Well, he's not at fifty thousand words yet," said Jack. "And we may be about to run into Wrath again."

"That's right," said the Doctor. "No skipping out on us now, author! Now let's get to it!"

They finally moved on to the palace right next to Poseidon's. When they got inside the palace, they were greeted by a large array of weapons. Pandora admired it, and noticed that it was even more extensive than the one Hermione had in her palace.

"Ares?" called out the Doctor.

"Which one are you looking for?" said a familiar voice.

The Doctor smacked himself in the head. "I knew I was getting a bit too angry at the author for holding up the plot," he said. "Sorry about that," he whispered in an upward direction. "Come on out, Wrath!"

From two ends of the room, two people came out, both wielding swords.

"Ares here insisted that there be witnesses when I defeated him and took back my rightful place, to make sure there was no foul play," said Wrath, who had come from the left. "What he fails to realize that all is fair in love and war."

Ares, who was indeed Sun Tzu, bowed to Wrath respectfully. "I shall fight with honor, whether you do or not. In the end, we will know who is the most powerful."

"I am your predecessor," said Wrath. "I chose you, did I not? I do not think I would have chosen someone who could best me in combat."

"Then you are a fool," said Sun Tzu. "You should always teach someone to be better than you are. You have let your brother Pride get the better of you, if you think that you are unbeatable. Aside from that, you are not my predecessor, and you did not choose me. Ares chose me. You just inhabit his old body. I am Ares now, and I shall prove it to you." All this was said very matter of factly, but the effect that it had on Wrath was incredible.

Wrath himself grew red with rage as he drew his sword and held it in a fighting stance. The sword was shaking, he was so mad.

Ares, meanwhile, drew his sword and held it in front of him calmly, with his eyes closed. He breathed in and out slowly, waiting for Wrath to make the first move.

He didn't have to wait for very long. Wrath let out a crazed scream and lunged, driving his sword point straight towards Ares' heart.

Ares, his eyes still closed, calmly stepped aside and swiped his own sword upward, knocking Wrath's sword aside easily. His own came back to its previous position.

"When you attack in anger, you will attack blindly," said Sun Tzu calmly. "To achieve focus, you must first calm yourself, and strike like a viper."

Without warning, his eyes sprang open as he thrust his sword forward. Wrath parried it once, then twice. He wasn't quite quick enough for the third, which sliced his right cheek open. A trickle of blood came out.

This only served to anger Wrath further. "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" he yelled, and swung his sword at Sun Tzu with both hands, trying to overpower the philosophical warrior.

This slowed him, however, and Sun Tzu was simply too fast for him to hit. He dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged again, avoiding Wrath's attacks with the fluidity of water.

"In battle, you must have strategy," said Sun Tzu, and the gathered audience was amazed to hear that he wasn't even breathing very hard. "To have strategy, you must understand your opponent. For example, if your opponent has lost his sense of reason in a fit of rage, you must seek to exploit it."

He stood still, and Wrath lunged at him again. Sun Tzu side stepped the attack again, and stuck his foot out.

Wrath tripped over his foot, and stumbled. He fell to the ground.

Unfortunately for Wrath, he landed on his own sword when he fell.

Sun Tzu nodded. "Those who attack blindly, in anger, will always find themselves impaled by their own swords. This is true in battle, as well as in life."

He sheathed his sword and bowed to his fallen opponent, who was twitching on the ground, with the tip of the sword coming out of his back. Sun Tzu turned to his audience and bowed to them. They bowed back awkwardly, not sure of what to say to the performance they had just witnessed.

"Now, if you will get off your sword, Wrath, you may clean it, and we will continue with your lesson," he said, not looking at the homunculus.

Wrath stopped twitching, turned around and sat up. "How did you know?" he said, his mouth open as he pulled the sword out and wiped it clean.

"As I said, Wrath, to have strategy, you must understand your opponent," said Sun Tzu, turning back to face Wrath. "Did you not notice that I did not really attempt to strike you in return?"

Wrath held his hand to his face, which was still bleeding slightly. "You gave me this," he said accusingly.

Sun Tzu shook his head. "That was part of the lesson," he said in a disappointed voice. "Pay attention! I knew that you could not be killed, so I did not attempt to kill you! It would have been a pointless exercise."

This was unlike anything any of the others had ever witnessed. The only thing remotely familiar to Harry was that Dumbledore had not tried to kill Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic, and Harry now realized that it was for the very same reason that Sun Tzu, or Ares, had not attempted to kill Wrath. The difference here was that Sun Tzu clearly thought that Wrath could still be taught.

"Why aren't you killing me?" asked Wrath. "I'm your enemy, and I tried to kill you."

Sun Tzu nodded. "That is true," he said. "But the greatest wisdom of war is not knowing when to take a life, but when to spare one."

"That's what I've been saying for centuries," said the Doctor. "I haven't said it in so many words, but that's the basic thing. Always give someone a chance."

Wrath stood up, and bowed. "I understand now, thank you," he said. "But I must insist that you die." He drew his sword again and readied it.

Ares narrowed his eyes. "I must insist that you are wrong," he said, and he drew his own blade and held it at the ready.

This time, the pair of them stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. Neither made a move. Wrath blinked, and Ares stepped forward quickly to press his advantage. In a flurry of metal, Ares' blade flashed back and forth in front of Wrath's face. Wrath only just got his sword up in time to block left, right, and left again. He leaped to the side as Ares thrust forward towards his middle.

Unfortunately, Ares had guessed his move, and had already bent down to swipe Wrath's leg from under him.

Wrath toppled to the ground, and brought his blade in front of his face just in time to block Ares' two handed blow that would have cleaved him right down the middle.

Wrath glared into Ares' eyes and pushed back against him to stand up. Ares leapt back as Wrath swiped at his midsection. He parried three quick blows, and then brought his own blade hard down on Wrath's sword as he held it to his side.

This knocked the blade to the ground, and Ares swiped his blade back up to the left towards Wrath, who rolled backwards away from him.

Ares reached down to pick up Wrath's sword and held it in his hand. "This blade is off balance," he said, holding it on one finger at where the blade met the hilt. The blade sagged toward the ground, bringing the hilt up. "Do you see? It's too heavy. It's no wonder you've been off balance this whole time and I was able to disarm you so easily." He took the blade and held it in hand. "The grip isn't quite right either. Here, take mine," he said, and tossed his own blade at Wrath's feet. "I'll use this one."

Wrath picked up Ares' sword, eyeing the god suspiciously. "What's wrong with yours?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Ares without batting an eyelash.

Wrath's eyes narrowed. "Do you seek to mock me, false god?" he thundered.

"Of course not," said Ares with a slight smirk. "I seek to patronize you. Does that make you angry?"

Wrath let out a primal roar and lunged at Ares again. Ares parried his blow easily and grabbed his arm. He stepped behind Wrath, still holding his arm and locking it behind him. He brought Wrath's sword up to his neck and whispered in his ear. "I wonder, beast, if your head is removed, will you die?"

"I thought you said that you wouldn't take my life!" cried Wrath. "I thought you said you would spare me!"

Ares sighed. "If a life does not wish to be spared, then it must not be," he said. In one fluid motion, he grabbed Wrath's head and pushed it forward, while at the same time pulling his other arm back. The sword cut clean through Wrath's neck. When the body slumped to the floor, Ares was left holding Wrath's head in the air. He looked at it in his hand, disgusted. He dropped it to the floor next to the body.

"I regret it," he said. "He fought well, or would have. I may have even named him as my successor if he possessed more control."

Martha then noticed something happening on the ground. One of the hands was twitching. The fingers were reaching for its head.

"Ares, look out!" she cried.

Ares looked down at the hand and stepped on it. Unfortunately, the other hand reached around quickly and grabbed the god by the ankle and pulled.

Ares fell to the ground on his back, while the two hands reached for the head and placed it back on its shoulders. The body sat up and they all watched in horror as the wound melted away. All of the blood was still there, so it still made for a very gruesome sight. Once the wound was gone and it was just a full neck, the eyes blinked. Wrath looked up at Ares, who had gotten back to his feet quickly.

"I guess that answers that question," said Jack. "He's like me."

"Nice try, son," said Wrath. "I guess I win."

Ares wasted no time though. He took both swords in hand, and stabbed down with them into Wrath's body, one at his heart, and the other into his skull.

They all watched with bated breath. Wrath's body didn't move for a moment. Then the hands reached up and pulled the sword out of its chest. They then pulled the other sword out of its head. Wrath sat back up and looked at Ares.

"Seriously?" he said. "You stab a man when he's down?"

"You are no man," said Ares. "You are an abomination."

Wrath raised his eyebrows. "Fine, you win." He got up and looked down at his body. "Is there some place I can at least get cleaned up?" he asked.

Poseidon raised his hand and a jet of water flew out of it. It hit Wrath full force and sent him sprawling into the nearest wall.

"Scourgify," said Harry, and bubbles mixed with the water.

"Okay, that's enough now!" shouted a voice.

They all turned and their jaws dropped.

Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Pride, and Sloth all stood there, menacing them. Envy stepped forward.

"Now why do you have to have all the fun, Wrath?" she asked. "I'm getting jealous!"


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 14

Back in the Box

Ron nudged Harry. "Looks like you're not the only one to survive the Killing Curse anymore, mate," he said, pointing at Envy.

"Okay, we may need to get the other gods here now," muttered Jack.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. "Patronuses?" said Ron.

Harry nodded and raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" he yelled, and an enormous silver stag burst out of it and cantered past the gathered homunculi and out of the palace.

Ron and Hermione both raised their wands and copied him. A Jack Russell terrier and an otter burst out of their respective wands and followed the stag out.

"Ooh, magic," said Lust, licking her lips. "I bet I can work some magic with your wand, Hades."

Harry stared at her with a disgusted look on his face. "Don't flatter yourself," he said. "The wand chooses the wizard, and mine wants to get as far away from you as possible."

"Where's Stormageddon?" asked Pandora suddenly.

Envy raised an eyebrow. "You mean your horse friend?" she asked. "Why don't you ask Gluttony?"

Pandora looked at Gluttony, who grinned at her. "He tasted like chicken!" he said excitedly.

Her eyes widened as tears filled them. She looked away, her heart broken.

Envy smiled. "Now that's what I like to see," she said. "Despair."

At that moment, they heard a flutter of wings outside. Pandora looked back up, hardly daring to hope.

But it was not to be, for the one that stepped inside was not her Pegasus friend, but Hermes. "What's all this?" he asked. He looked around at the two groups gathered in front of him: the homunculi closest to him and the audience of the battle. He saw the two fighters as well: Ares, standing there with two swords still bloody next to him, and a soaking wet, but squeaky clean Wrath still slumped against the wall.

"Oh, are we doing this now?" he asked. "I'd better get in position then." He flapped his wings and flew right over the homunculi to land next to Greed, who was still bound, gagged, and unconscious. "We must make this a fair fight," he said, and he took the sock out of Greed's mouth and untied him.

"Ennervate," said Hermione, and Greed woke up.

"Hey, put me down!" he said. "My head hurts!"

"Liberacorpus," said Hermione, and Greed dropped to the ground.

"Yeowch!" he cried. "Now it really hurts!" He sat up, rubbing it. He looked over at Wrath. "What happened to him?" he said, jerking a finger at the dripping figure. Then he looked over at the other homunculi, noticing them for the first time. "Oh," he said, standing up slowly. "Hi guys."

"Don't give us that, traitor," said Envy. "We know that you just wanted us all to kill each other so you would have all the power to yourself."

Greed laughed. "Haha, what exactly did you expect?" he asked, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Ow," he said, rubbing the spot where he hit himself. "I'm Greed! It's in my nature to want to be the big shot, and if I can get all the money and women in the world along with the power, then so be it!"

Envy frowned. "Our Master wouldn't really like that, now would he?" she asked.

Greed raised a hand to his eyes as though shielding them from the sun while peering into the distance. He looked around in this way, mockingly. "I'm looking, I'm looking," he said. "I don't see any Master here, do you?"

Pride stepped forward. "I'm as good as the Master," he said. "Who do you think got left in charge if he wasn't here besides me?"

Greed raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting," he said. "Hasn't Envy been doing all the talking so far?"

Pride looked at Envy. "Only because I've been letting him," he said. "You have to give the peasants something, you know. They get ever so jealous of all that the rulers have."

Envy glared at Pride. "You think that you let me speak?" she growled. "Nobody lets me do anything. I am my own Master!"

Pride raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I do believe that you are wrong about that in this instance," he said. "You see, _our_ Master has made me _your_ master for the time being. So, in a sense, you have two masters at the moment. You answer not to yourself, but to me. And that goes for the lot of you!" he said, turning to his fellows around him.

Gluttony let out a belch. "Master said I could eat you if you got to uppity," he said, putting a finger in his mouth. "And I'm so hungry. Can I eat him, Lust?"

Lust smirked. "I can tell you what to do no more than he can," she said. "You must follow your own instincts on what to do with no Master around."

Gluttony smiled, and his tongue hung out of his mouth. Drool ran down it to the ground like a stream. "I think I will!"

Pride narrowed his eyes at Gluttony. "You must realize that I am the greatest among you," he said. "Only I know what is best. How will you survive without me?" He looked over at Lust. "How can you sit there and just let him eat me?" he said. "I mean, look at me! Don't you want me? You, who will screw anything that moves, won't lift a claw to keep this alive?"

Lust laughed at him. "You seem to be confusing Lust with Love, dear," she said. "Just because I used to be love doesn't mean that I feel it anymore."

"No," said a voice. "That's my job."

In through the palace doors behind the homunculi walked Aphrodite.

Lust smirked as she saw who had become her former self walk forward. "I can't believe I could have chosen someone as hideous as you," she said. "How could anyone be the goddess of beauty and fertility and look like that?"

Aphrodite only smiled calmly at the creature who had been her predecessor. "You used to understand that beauty was something all beings could achieve, no matter what kind of looks they were born with," she said. "What has happened to you is abominable, and you have become a hideous creature, who possesses no love. Even as you are though, you may still be redeemed."

Lust scowled at her. "You fool," she replied softly. "All I need is a hand wrapped around a…"

"Whoa!" shouted the Doctor. "We will not be having any of that suggestiveness around here! It's a family show!"

Aphrodite ignored him. "In any event, you did not choose me," she said, and she nodded at Pandora. "She did."

Pandora raised her eyebrows. "I did?"

The blonde woman nodded. "You knew that it was unlikely that you would be able to continue as Aphrodite, so you needed a successor. Nobody that was present would have been eligible, and you didn't know of anyone suitable. That's where Miss Granger came in."

Hermione nodded. "I thought of every character in every book I've ever read, and I was trying to come up with someone who exemplified all that Aphrodite is known for: beauty, love, and fertility." She shrugged and smiled. "Who would be better than the mother of dragons?"

Daenerys Targaryen smiled coolly and turned around. Right outside the door of the palace, three dragons landed and roared in unison.

"Hagrid, eat your heart out," muttered Ron.

"My children are here," said Aphrodite. Her eyes narrowed at Lust. "I dare you to try something."

Lust's eyes flashed. "They can't come in here though, and if their flames enter the doorway, they will have to pass you to get to me." Her hand shot out, and her index finger's nail extended as quick as lightning.

Captain Jack Harkness hadn't just been chosen to be Zeus for his good looks and charm though. Living up to his name as the god of lightning, he pulled his sidearm and shot Lust's forefinger off before the nail got halfway to Aphrodite.

Lust howled in fury and pain, and raised her other, nonmangled hand. The nails of her index, middle, and ring fingers shot out.

Luckily, there were three battle-hardened wizards there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione raised their wands, and three cries of "Diffindo!" later, three more fingers dropped to the ground.

Lust curled up on the ground, clutching her bleeding appendages to her chest. Envy scowled at the gathered gods.

"Can't you let her fight her own battles?" he asked, and leered at Aphrodite. "It figures that someone who claims to be all about the strength of love would be so weak."

"Stay your weapons, friends," said Aphrodite, holding a hand up. "He is right. I am to fight this battle with what I alone possess." She strode forward and stood face to face with Envy. She lowered her voice. "You will see how weak I am," she said, and turned to look at her dragons. She nodded her head slightly.

Jack saw what was coming and hauled Pandora out of the way, just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione dove aside.

An instant later, flames erupted from the collected mouths of the three dragons, who had gathered their heads right next to the door to have better aim. The homunculi and Aphrodite were all engulfed in fire.

Steve Zissou had known what was coming, but instead of diving out of the way, he had encased himself in a large shield of water. He found it necessary, however, with the heat of the fire, to move aside. The fire was hitting the water and evaporating it quickly. When he had reached a safe distance from it, he threw up a shield of water between the burning homunculi and him and his fellow gods as an added protection.

In a few moments, the fire had dissipated as the dragons stopped shooting the flames out of their mouths. Aphrodite stepped out of the ashen remains of the homunculi, and through the wall of water that Poseidon had created. She was, of course, unscathed, and there wasn't even the smell of fire on her person. She smirked. "Weak, huh?" she said, and Poseidon let the water drop.

They all watched the homunculi carefully. Wrath was still unscathed on their side, as he was still leaning against the wall.

It took a while, but the ashes started to come together and solidify into humanoid forms. The ashes themselves fell away from the bodies, revealing shiny pink skin.

Lust was the first to emerge, and Pandora for one was glad to see that she had come back fully clothed. She didn't like to think of what kind of effect the sight of her naked body would have on the males in her group.

Lust opened her mouth, but she didn't get a chance to speak. Jack hurled a bolt of lightning at her, and it branched out six more times to the other homunculi on impact. There was a slightly comic moment when you could see the skeletons of the homunculi, like the negative of a picture, and they dropped to the ground again.

"What does it take to kill them?" asked Steve as they started to move again, still smoking slightly. Jack shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "We've given them all we've got. Kid, where's your mother?" he barked at Ron.

"Right here, sorry I'm late!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, swerving into the palace on a broomstick. "I was just checking up on the rest of the Weasleys. Ginny misses you something terrible, Harry."

Harry blushed, but smiled. He had missed her too.

"Now are we dealing with these creatures again?" asked Mrs. Weasley, coming to a landing. "What let them out of the box?" Then she spotted Pandora. "Pandora dear! Oh, it's so good to see you again!" And she swept Pandora up into a bone crushing hug. "Maybe you can fill me in. How did these creatures, and yourself for that matter, get out of that infernal box?"

The Doctor stepped up, speaking for the first time in quite a while. "I'm afraid that's partially my doing, Mrs. Weasley," he said, straightening his bow tie. "And I must say, it is absolutely smashing to finally meet you."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"This is the Doctor," said Jack. "I may have mentioned him once or twice to you before. He's that higher authority that I answer to."

The Doctor grinned at Jack. "Ha ha!" he said. "You talk about me? That's too sweet of you, Captain."

Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened. "You're the man who can keep this one in check?" she said, pointing a finger at Jack. "Well, the pleasure is all mine then!"

"Hem hem," said Hermione, and they all jumped. "I believe we were getting to the bottom of how the Doctor led to the homunculi and Pandora being released."

"It's actually all my fault," said a voice, and the ever increasingly large group turned to the doorway of the palace.

The Doctor stood up straight to face the voice. "Hello, Master," he said.

The Master smiled. "Oh, I do ever so love it when you use my name," he said. "The good Doctor let a human enter my home and open the box. He claims it was because that it was because it was a fixed point in time, so it couldn't be changed. While that was true, he had another motive for that box being opened, didn't you, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at his nemesis coldly. "If you know so much, why don't you explain it to them?" he said in a soft voice.

The Master inclined his head. "I will, and gladly," he said. "Budge over, there's a good girl," he said, strolling past Aphrodite and her dragons to stand with his now fully healed homunculi. "Aside from the obvious of letting Pandora finally free, would you believe that the good Doctor here actually wanted to release the evils back into the world?"

The assembled gods all turned to the Doctor. "Doctor," said Jack slowly. "Is this true?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes," he said. "It is. And now I have all of them right where I want them, along with all of you!" He danced around gleefully, looking all at once like a drunken giraffe.

"Um, Doctor?" said Martha, who also had been silent for a very long time. "What are you so happy about?"

The Doctor looked at them. "Don't you understand?" he said. "Oh, you people, you're all so thick. What must it be like in your funny little minds, it must be so boring!"

"Oh!" said Hermione. "Oh!" she said again. "Of course, that's it! That's the answer!"

"Are you going to let us in on what he's raving about, Hermione?" asked Ron.

She looked at him. "We can go home soon, Ron," she said. "We can go home!"

"But Doctor," said Martha. "I thought you said we needed Hope to get the homunculi back in the box?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not back in the box, Martha Jones, not at all!" he shouted, and with a flourish he pointed in Pandora's direction. "And we've got Hope right over there!"

Pandora looked at him, confused. "What have I to hope for?" she asked, a little tearfully. "My friend is dead! He ate Stormageddon!" she yelled, pointing at Gluttony, who burped.

"Oh come on, girlie," said Greed. "Get with the program. They lied to you!"

"What?" she asked. "You mean he's still alive?"

"Yes, your horsey is still alive," said Greed, rolling her eyes at her.

"Where is he then?" she asked. "Why hasn't he come? How do I know you're not lying to me?"

He grinned toothily at her. "I guess you'll just have to trust me, won't you?"

There was a fluttering of wings from outside. "Sorry, Greedy, old boy, but seeing is believing in this case, and that's where the Hope comes from!" the Doctor said.

And then the entrance to the palace went black for a moment. The darkness outside came closer, and revealed itself to be Stormageddon, the Pegasus. He had a rider that was very familiar on him too.

"Sean!" shrieked Martha. "I don't believe it?"

Stormageddon came to an easy landing next to Pandora and leaned his head close to her. "It is good to see you again," he said softly.

She couldn't speak, though her eyes filled with tears. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

Sean hauled himself off of Stormageddon's back gingerly. He winced as his feet hit the ground. Martha rushed to him at once.

"Are you all right?" she asked, and she immediately started checking his wound. "You shouldn't be up yet, you need rest!"

He smiled weakly at her. "The TARDIS didn't seem to think so," he said.

"What happened?" asked the Doctor.

"A few minutes after you left, the TARDIS switched itself on, I guess," said Sean. "You know, I'm not sure that time machine is just a machine."

"Oh, she definitely isn't," said the Doctor, grinning. "Where did she go?"

Sean shrugged. "She seemed to think she was needed elsewhere, because she made that whining noise, and levers and buttons were working themselves. Then I saw something very odd."

"What was it?" asked Martha.

"It was this… this Pegasus," said Sean. "He just kind of faded in, flying around the control room. He got spooked, landed, and asked me where he was."

"I bet that was a shock," said Pandora, who had finally peeled herself away from Stormageddon's neck.

Sean nodded. "I certainly wasn't expecting to see a Pegasus, let alone one that could talk," he said.

"Well, this is a touching reunion," said the Master. "But I'm afraid it's quite pointless. What do you hope to achieve now?"

Pandora turned to the Master. "You don't listen very well, do you?" she asked. "We don't just have hope now. I am Hope personified!"

The Master raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to scare me?" he asked skeptically.

"Not a bit," said the Doctor, stepping forward to stand next to Pandora. "Although it will stop your plans. You see, if you put the Hope of the human race against your seven deadly sins, the human race is going to win every time."

The Master sneered. "The human race," he said, spitting the words out as though they disgusted him. "How pathetic they are, with their short lives, and their hope."

"Ah, but it's the short lives that's the trick," said the Doctor. "I know that the Time Lord lives too long. We live too long to really appreciate the beauty of life. The human race treats life as precious, as something to treasure and protect. They know that their lives in this universe are short, so they seek to make them meaningful. They hope that when they leave their world behind, they will have made a difference! They! Hope!"

"And what good will that do, Doctor?" asked the Master. "I see only two members of the human race among you. The rest are gods."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, my lord Master," said the Doctor. "You see, these people, these gods, are more human than you will ever understand. The tests that they passed to become what they are now only further affirm their humanity! They had to show that love, and compassion, and family, and hope are the most important things to them! That's why they were chosen!"

"And what will your humans do now?" asked the Master softly. "They have already proven that they can not kill my homunculi. They are ideas, and you of all people know, Doctor, that an idea is immortal!"

"And do you think you are immortal, now that you are rid of all those ideas, Master?" asked the Doctor, in a voice as soft as the Master's. "Did you truly rid yourself of them?"

"Of course I have," the Master said disdainfully. "Do you think I would go through all this trouble only to fail?"

"Yes," said the Doctor. "Because I detect Pride in your words. I detect Greed in your actions. I detect Envy in your heart."

The Master narrowed his eyes. "Beware of what you say, Doctor, I will show you my Wrath."

"You're about to have all of them back," said the Doctor. He turned to the gods around him. He looked at each of them in turn. Zeus, who was really Captain Jack Harkness. Hera, who was really Molly Weasley. Poseidon, who was really Steve Zissou. Aphrodite, who was really Daenerys Targaryen. Ares, who was really Sun Tzu. Dionysus, who was really Ron Weasley. Hades, who was really Harry Potter. And Athena, who was really Hermione Granger. The Doctor held each of their eyes in turn. "You're free," he said finally. "You have only to let yourself go."

Then, without so much as an explanation, the gods each walked to their counterparts. Jack walked to Pride. Mrs. Weasley walked to Envy. Steve walked to Sloth. Daenerys walked to Lust. Sun Tzu walked to Wrath. Ron walked to Gluttony. Harry walked to Greed. They each held out their hands to the other. The homunculi inexplicably took them, and there was a wave of power that shifted into the homunculi from the gods. Then each homunculus stood up and moved over to the Master.

"What are you doing?" he asked them as they approached him. "Stop it! Obey your Master!"

"They have no Master but themselves now," said the Doctor softly. "They are simply giving themselves back to you."

The seven homunculi now laid their hands on the Master, and there was what seemed to be a power transference again, only this time it was from the homunculi.

When they were done, the homunculi stepped away, no longer homunculi, but gods. The Master fell to his knees. "I'm mortal again?" he asked, looking at the Doctor.

The Doctor walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You were always mortal," he said gently. "Maybe you'll appreciate what that means a little more now. And I hope," he added, placing emphasis on the word, "that you'll hope to be better." The Doctor stood up and walked back to stand next to Pandora.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"Oh, we take everybody home," he said. "It's time."

"Doctor?" asked a small voice, and he looked over at Hermione. "What about me? I'm still Athena."

"Have you chosen a successor?" asked the Doctor.

Hermione considered for a moment. "I think I have," she said. "Someone that I think has always embodied the qualities Athena must have treasured most. But what will that do? I have to die, or something else terrible has to happen to me for the successor to become active, and there's no telling how long that will take!"

The Doctor looked over at the gods. "What do you think, Zeusy?" he asked.

Zeus walked over to the young woman who had become his daughter and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You have chosen a successor," he said in a deep voice that was so different from what Pride's had been. "You may also choose when they begin."

Hermione stared up at him. "You mean," she started. "You mean that I can choose to stop being Athena, and leave? I can go home?"

Zeus smiled and nodded at her. "Just make sure that you make the test for your successor be a fair one, but challenging enough that they will prove to be worthy of your name, Athena."

Hermione smiled at him. "I will," she said, and turned to Harry and Ron. "Let's go home," she said. "I need to speak to a teacher."

"There's a surprise," muttered Ron, and Harry smiled.

Pandora looked around. The wizards would get to go back to Hogwarts, the marine biologist would get to back to studying his creatures, the warrior would go back to China, and the captain would get to go back to Torchwood. She had no home though. "Doctor," she said timidly. "Where will I go?"

"I have an idea," said Hermione. "Come here," and she handed Pandora her wand. She walked over to Stormageddon and bowed.

"What do you think I am, a hippogriff?" asked Stormageddon.

She smiled at him. "It pays to show respect to a beast as magnificent as you," she said.

Pandora could have sworn that Stormageddon smiled at this. "What do you require of me, young witch?" he asked.

"I wonder, could I please use one of your feathers?" she asked.

Stormageddon's nostrils flared for a moment, and he snorted. "You may," he said after a moment. "Thank you for asking."

She reached for a wing, and plucked a feather. Stormageddon didn't even wince at it, though he did flutter his wings a little as she moved away.

Hermione turned to Pandora and placed the feather on the ground in front of her. "Point the wand at the feather, and imagine it floating in the air," she said.

Pandora didn't know what Hermione was playing at, but she closed her eyes and envisioned the feather rising into the air.

Hermione's voice entered her thoughts again. "Now swish and flick the wand," she said. "Show her, Ron."

Pandora opened her eyes and looked at the young man who could no longer shoot wine from his hands. He showed her the wrist movement that she was required to do, and helped her to do it herself.

Harry added his help in as well. "Say the incantation now," he said. "Wingardium Leviosa. Make the 'gar' nice and long, and remember, it's Levioooosa, not Leviosah."

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Pandora, swishing and flicking the wand like she was taught. To her amazement, the feather fluttered up into the air, and then slowly back to the ground.

Hermione grinned at Pandora. "I'm pleased to announce that you're a witch, Pandora," she said. "And it is my recommendation that you study the magical arts at the finest wizarding school in the world."

Pandora grinned, and the others around her clapped and whooped. Pandora would have a home after all.


	15. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Epilogue

The Master had gone with the Doctor in the TARDIS as they dropped everyone off back in their own time. Zeus had tasked Hermes with the job of finding Athena's successor. Hermione had grinned at the thought of Professor McGonagall's face when she found out that her star pupil had chosen her as the heir to Athena. The Doctor had dropped off Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Pandora at Hogwarts. Stormageddon, who couldn't bear to be parted from Pandora, was left there as well. Mrs. Weasley he took back to the Burrow. Sun Tzu was taken back to ancient China. Steve Zissou was dropped back at his seaside lab. Jack he took back to Cardiff, where Gwen was still defending the Earth in the Torchwood hub.

"What will you do with me, Doctor?" asked Sean. He, Martha, the Doctor, and the Master were the only ones left on the TARDIS now.

"I've got to take you home, Sean," said the Doctor.

"But all the things that happened due to the homunculi," said Sean. "That little town in Texas, the accident. The pizza delivery boy. Mozart. What's going to happen with all of that?"

The Doctor looked at the Master, who answered. "Now that the homunculi are all back inside of me as of three thousand years ago your time, everything reverts back to as it was. That little town is still lazy, though it will not stop altogether. The pizza delivery boy will go to college. Mozart died at a young age, just as he always did."

"You, Sean, I am taking home," said the Doctor again. "You've seen and learned a lot, but you have to get back to your life. I trust that you'll not let your curiosity get the better of you anymore."

Sean nodded. "It gave me enough trouble for a lifetime, Doctor," he said. "What about Martha though? Will she be back in the house across the street? And what about Mrs. Thompson?" he added, looking at the Master.

"There never was a Mrs. Thompson," said the Master with a slight smile. "She was as much of a hologram as the room in which you found my computer. Oh yes, I know all about that," he added. "I'm as clever as the Doctor, you know, just on a different side."

"Martha?" Sean said, looking at her. "What aren't they telling me?"

She smiled at him. "I've got to go home too, Sean," she said. "I've got a life to get back to, now that I'm not keeping an eye on him and his box anymore. But that doesn't mean we can't talk and keep in touch," she added. "You're my friend, and I don't want to lose that." She leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek. "We're good, yeah?"

Sean's heart sank. "Yeah," he said, a little sadly. "We're good."

"Okay, Sean," said the Doctor, bringing the TARDIS to a stop. "You're home."

Sean walked to the door, opened it and looked out. There it was, his house. He turned around and looked back. Martha and the Doctor waved to him. The Master, whom he had known for years as Mr. Thompson, nodded to him.

Sean closed the door behind him and walked into his house. He hoped that his next adventure would be a little less adventurous.

* * *

And that's it! This was a three year project through NaNoWriMo, and as cliche as it sounds, I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.


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